


How To Train Your Avenger

by Unicorn_Whisperer



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - How to Train Your Dragon Fusion, Angst, Awesome Thor (Marvel), BAMF Pepper Potts, BAMF Peter Parker, BAMF Phil Coulson, Bruce and Tony and Hiccup are science bro's, Ceiling Vent Clint Barton, Crossover, Deadpool being Deadpool, Deaf Clint Barton, Dragon Riders, Everyone Is Alive, Female Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, Gen, I LOVE MARVEL, I love HTTYD, Infinity War Didn't Happen Either, Loki (Marvel) is a Good Bro, Marvel and How To Train Your Dragon Crossover, Mild Language, Nick Fury Knows All, Pietro Maximoff Lives, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Protective Steve Rogers, Protective Toothless (How to Train Your Dragon), Symbionts, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Venom makes an appearance, civil war didn't happen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2019-10-08 08:32:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 223,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17383211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unicorn_Whisperer/pseuds/Unicorn_Whisperer
Summary: This is Berk. An island well north of the middle of nowhere. Its remoteness means we rarely rub shoulders with the world at large. Which suits us most of the time. The older I get, the more I wonder about that horizon, and what's beyond it. Adventure, danger, new challenges and, of course, the totally and utterly... Unexpected?A story in which Hiccup and Toothless end up going on what has to be their greatest adventure of all time. New Worlds, new dragons, new allies but also new enemies. Will they convince the ever suspicious humans they don’t form a threat, or will she end up with double as much Dragon Hunters?





	1. The Night and the Fury

_Black as night it was._

Which wasn't strange considering it was night and therefore it was black, fluffy, grey clouds covering the stars and shining moon in the sky, but not being able cover some stars that curiously peeked through the gaps at the world below. At an island, to be exact.

Wind blew over the sea, pushing the water up and letting the waves roll onto the shore. There was fog circling around the island, hiding it in plain sight and making it dangerous waters to cross. The ship blossomed right there on the ocean, with sails as pretty as any petals, for the ones who liked the color of the midnight sky. The rest was all as solid as any oak of the land, warm browns that reminded one of his formal home and hearth, of those quiet family evenings when jokes rose and swirled as eddies in water. Her bows met the water with a regal dignity, creating waves of her own, choosing her path with each passing moment.

The sailing ship was fashioned from the wood of an ancient oak, with masts that stood as tall. Instead of its once green foliage it was adorned by sails as black as night. Yet for the next few years the fragrance would not be of wildflowers and fresh rotting leaves, but of the open sea, ever changing, ever constant, ever in motion beneath the clouds who sailed above.

The thick fog blanketed the entire bay now, and the town. The only structure visible was Fort Barbarian, high on the bluff, like a tall ship sailing a sea of grey. Above the Fort was a clear black sky sprinkled with stars. A waxing moon shone, giving both Fort and fog an eerie glow. Just below the stone parapets of the fort, visible briefly deep in the fog, like a shark fin slicing through the water, was the topmast of a ship, black sails billowing. It moored at the harbor and the crew climbed out.

A tall man with broad shoulders and the build of a mountain stepped breathed in deeply through his nose. He spread his arms out beside his body and laughed. He jerked his head from his crew to the Fort and walked towards it. Another, smaller and more slender man stepped out too. The broad man waited for the smaller man to go first.

The men on the island were tense. Pain, panic and terror was the only energy out there tonight, they could feel it hanging in the air. The air around them felt thick as if before a storm, but with the dryness of a scared person's lips. Something was going to happen, something bad.

The cool breeze brought along tension and the men searched the sky for anything out of the ordinary. Occasionally, a nervous boy with a trigger finger would shoot an arrow in the air, but nobody blamed him. Shadows that had a bit of an odd shape were suspicious, so were too small clouds. If any stars were suddenly blotted out arrows would fly up.

Various weapons hit the table with a metallic clatter. Swords, knives, axes, maces, crossbows, all scattered around the tabletop. The tables were set in a big square with a fire illuminating the tables from the middle. It was like a tiny sun, casting long shadows around the room. The flames curled and swayed, flicking this way and that, crackling as they burned the dry wood.

Mumbling rose from various people in the room. Those few weapons would never be enough, there were barely enough weapons to give every man one. The looks shifted at the smith, the man nodded knowingly and smiled widely, showing his gross, crooked teeth. A fist hit the table. The gazes shifted at the man whose fist it was. The big man.

He called himself the Brute.

Agnos the Brute. A name laughable for some when they heard it. But when you stood in his way you would learn what it meant to be nicknamed 'the Brute' and the laughing would end in a snap… the snap of your neck. He was not one to fool around with nor one to make fun of, that was for sure.

Agnos the Brute was the older brother of Ragnar Mortson, therefore he actually was called Agnos Mortson but he liked 'the Brute' better. They were two sides of a coin. Agnos was the madman and Ragnar was a military genius. Ragnar's unnerving mystique chilled the hearts of the bravest Vikings. But daunting in size and demeanor, Agnos had no tolerance for those who disagreed with him.

Agnos had quick, small eyes. He had a long, elegant mustache, a little limp from the seawater. He smiled a charming, easygoing smile (although a fussy person might think that perhaps it had too many teeth in it). He wore his brown hair and beard in thick dreadlocks. Multiple scars ran over Agnos' body, evidence of his past encounters with dragons and Vikings. His attire consisted of a sleeveless shirt, a thick waist belt and a huge black cape made from dragon skin. Attached to his belt he wore a loincloth, black trousers, and boots covered in fur. His vast power and authority came from keeping the fear of his men and forcing them to join his army. He was not above betraying his allies if they did not follow his instructions and killed without mercy.

His younger brother, Ragnar, was smaller than him, also more handsome. He had short-cropped brown hair, brown eyes and a more elegant figure. But for what he lacked in height compared to his older brother he made up for in cleverness and cunning. He could wield a sword or a dagger with the deftness of a circus act and he sharpened his weapons every morning at sunrise. His clothes were dark colored and strong, but fancy and soft, a tailor made each time he came to harbor. His shoes were a thick black leather, beaten to be supple, he would not abide blisters. He paid the cobbler in advance for a new pair to be ready for him on the shelf.

Ragnar was very intolerant towards failure, fail him and one was to be executed. This ruthlessness made him feared by many, including those who followed him. Calm and collected, Ragnar knew that knowledge equaled power - especially when it came to dragons. Unlike his older, more outwardly barbaric brother, Ragnar preferred finesse to brawn. An expert trap designer and manipulator of friends and foes alike, Ragnar always played the long game for power. Ragnar often let Agnos handle the dirty work, but was not above administering his own cruel and unusual punishments from time to time.

"This rubbish is not enough," Agnos said, grabbing one of the swords from the table. He balanced it in his hand and sniffed the edges, holding the blade so close to his nose some thought he would cut his own nose. Ragnar stayed behind him, mostly hidden in the shadows of the room. He didn't speak. He was trained to be quiet, silent, unnoticeable. Unless someone engaged with him, he would sometimes be deadly silent for hours on end: watching, listening.

"This metal," Agnos growled. He bit down on the blade and pushed his jaws down so hard on it he bend the material, earning himself some whoas, as there were supposed to be. Agnos was there for the show, Ragnar was there to make the plans. Agnos looked at the metal sword with disgust in his eyes and threw it to the ground, then stamping on it with his foot. "It is not good enough. Give me stronger weapons!"

The smith grabbed a knife from the table and used it to pick remains of food from between his teeth. He thought for a minute or so, then tossed the knife back on the table and with a grunt he stretched his back. "I can do that, chief. But after that dragon attack of last week they destroyed a part of my workshop, might take a while before I can work on that."

"Oh, I've had it with these dragons! Is the ship ready?" Agnos asked, looking over at his right-hand, Glum, who gave this vague gesture of his hand. "We still have a little more work to do."

"Get it done!" Agnos snapped, "I want my ship ready before we set sail. Berk will face the consequences of their deeds."

Glum nodded and took off, but not before being stopped by Ragnar. The smaller brother whispered something in Glum's ear, the latter nodded again and left the room. Agnos sniffed loudly and spit on the ground, earning himself a slightly disgusted look from his brother.

"For those of you who haven't figured it out... I am the one and only Agnos the Brute. And let me be clear, that name was earned."

A man leaned to his neighbor and poked him with his elbow. "Huh, 'Agnos? Pfft... How did he earn that?"

Lucky for him Agnos hadn't heard it or he would have hung. Agnos was not one would just insult. The large Barbarian looked around the big table, taking in faces. "You are all here because your leader has abandoned ya, maybe because ya wanted another job, maybe ya were sick of your previous leaders, I don't care. You are here now, following my orders. This is war! A war we will most surely win! It won't be long, first out we take their little soldier and then we'll get the Island of Berk. They'll be defenseless without their precious little Dragon Conqueror."

He slammed his fist on the table and the crowd cheered. They hit their fists in the air and waved their few weapons. Ragnar chuckled and narrowed his eyes, some more sheep to send on a suicide mission. This was just too easy.

* * *

  

"It is right out of the same old playbook, am I right?"

The man's appearance was deceiving. He looked like a ramshackle beggar, or a useless old drunk with his big moustache and unkempt beard. But he was nothing of the sort. He was a Barbarian, and a damn good one. He wasn't much of a planner or master strategist, but he had instincts that told him exactly what to do and what not.

He took advantage of people and only attacked when he was sure to win. His reputation proceeded him. He would make his man richer than they could ever dream and give them everything they would ever want; gold, diamonds, women, more gold. But if they questioned him or ignored direct orders they would die a humiliating and painful death.

The other looked up with an eyebrow arched. He had greasy, thick hair that was tightly pushed back over his head and he had a big claw mark in his neck.

"What?" he asked confused.

The first man shrugged and shifted his chair closer to the other. It was like a dance to him, he was familiar with every step and each turn, a deadly dance like that of a cobra. "You know, dehumanize, destabilize, antagonize – our leaders offer an easy solution, which is always war. That's how the psychopaths ruled and even knowing their strategies never helped."

He curled the hair of his moustache around his finger and bend over to the man with the claw mark. "It's human nature to think ourselves smarter, or that this situation is different. The battle is promised to be short, a tactical advantage to our side, and almost no casualties for 'us'. Sounds familiar?"

The man with the claw mark sat up straight. He leaned onto the table with his elbow, coming closer to the man with the big moustache and unkempt beard, who scrunched his nose a bit at smelling the awful breath of the claw-mark man. Like smelling the mouth of a dragon who had just eaten piles of rotten fish.

"Yeah," he breathed, making the other lean back a bit to get away from that terrible breath. "Yeah it does. We're always promised everything. But what do we get? Nothing. Only death and destruction."

The moustache man tapped his fingers on the table as he looked at the claw-mark man, estimating him. A low-level Barbarian. Had not been working here for long. Got barely paid since pay-day isn't for another couple weeks. He looked clean, a bit dingy but he still looked cleaner than the most of the other Barbarians here. He still had hope, he wrote letters almost every day, so he probably had a family to take care for. This would be easy-peasy. Time to take the next steps.

The moustache man was named Gunner, he had been working with the Barbarians for nearly twenty years. He was a high-level Barbarian with his own ship and crew, he was the boss underneath the big boss. He could order people around, and he loved that. He was always looking for the newbies, the ones that were impressionable. Easy to convince.

"I've been waiting for, praying for, some kind of top-down change, but now I know it won't happen that way. We're fooling ourselves if we think it will," Gunner continued, seeing he had the other's attention.

The other Barbarian nodded in agreement, taking a big sip of his drink. Gunner kept getting him a refill to get him drunk. Drunk people always agreed more with him and were easier to manipulate.

"We would be stupid to continue this way. We cannot win a war with Berk. Maybe we could with the Outcasts but not with the Berkians. They are too organized, too powerful. I heard their chief rides a dragon himself, and they have the Dragon Conqueror on their side of course. And let's be honest, do you really think all these people, all these mercenaries, will keep on going the second they see men riding huge, fire-breathing war machines?"

The Barbarian with the claw mark shook his head sadly and slumped in his chair. "No. I do not. They will turn tails and they'll burn us down to the ground."

Gunnar grinned and sat up in his chair, leaning a bit towards the other. Time to make the spin in their deadly dance. "Well that's where I cut in, my friend. I don't care about Berk or this Dragon Conqueror. I've heard that Agnos' little brother, Ragnar, is obsessed with him, as you know, and won't stop until they capture him. But I'm not. I'm just here for the money and the raids. That Ragnar fellow, he barely says anything to anyone. He's just sittin' there, in silence. Is that the kind of leader we want?"

The Barbarian eyed him a bit suspiciously. Gunnar grinned wider. "Listen. I'm gathering a group of people who don't care about conquering land, but gettin' rich. Gold, as much as you can carry and beautiful women! Isn't that what every man in here wants?"

The man with the claw mark grinned too, holding out his hand. "That sounds like something I would want to join. I'm Hord, by the way."

The man which the big moustache grinned widely and took his hand. "Well, Hord, my name is Gunnar. And I think we need to take action ourselves."

Hord nodded. "You know. Ragnar says we're gonna get rid of the Dragon Conqueror, but I wouldn't know how in Thor's name he is planning on doing that. The Dragon Conqueror is mean, smart, powerful, but above all, fast. So fast, you never see it coming. He's riding that Godawful abomination, too fast to notice."

"Until you hear the sound of the Devil himself," Gunnar said, "But then it's too late." He took a swig of his goblet and cleaned his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Exactly."

The two men sat in silence for a moment, taking another swig and sighing deeply. Gunner scratched his beard and spit on the ground. "So, you wanna join? I still got room for the ones who want to be rich, not take unnecessary risks."

Hord cleared his throat and shrugged. "Why not? Sounds like a dream offer. Count me in."

Gunner brought his goblet to his lips and smiled behind it. Another sheep added to the herd.

This was just too easy.

* * *

 

The eerie darkness of that night would never escape one's memory. They would clearly remember the pitch-black curtain draped over the sky, and the twisted, warped shapes that the stars made against the blackness. The milky speckles twirled and danced along the sky in various patterns. The guards stared up at the sky and studied the silver glow of the moon.

Some stars were dull, merely flickering into existence every now and then, but still essential for the guard's watch. Without the stars detecting danger would have been a whole lot more difficult. The stars gave light, they betrayed things flying through the air, so they were needed.

The sea glistened, mirroring the dazzling assemblage of glittering stars and the white moon in the sky. The faint wind brushed against the water's surface, making the waves just this tad higher. As the night passed and Ragnar was making plans inside, the guards slowly lost their attention. Their eyelids grew heavy and they shifted their weight onto their other leg every few minutes. They had to keep reminding themselves, boring was good, boring was good, boring was good.

Suddenly there was a high-pitched whistling sound, faintly to be heard in the distance. One of the people in the village looked up into the blackness of the night, but saw nothing. He narrowed his eyes, peeking between his lashes at the sky. His hand went to his belt where his axe was, resting his hand on it. He knew that sound. He stared up at the sky, at the stars in particular. It was an almost cloudless night, clear and cool.

His fingers curled tightly around the handle of his axe when some of the stars disappeared for a second and then suddenly came to vision again, as if something had covered them for so short. Something fast flying, something that could blend in with the night sky. The whistling got louder and his eyes widened. He knew that sound.

"NIGHT FURY!" he yelled on the top of his lungs.

"GET DOWN!" Came an immediately reply.

The whistling got even closer. Screaming Barbarians ran around, trying to find cover before it would fire. A purple gaseous ring and a huge ball of fire at the center shot through the air, not all too big and seemingly harmless. Until it hit its goal, a catapult, and the whole thing exploded into thousands of little pieces. Fire grasped around at everything it could find, catching the wood and making the thing collapse.

"JUMP!" the men who were standing beside the catapult yelled and they jumped away. The whistling sound moved past the now exploded catapult, made a turn and approached the village again. But other than the bloodcurdling whistle there was nothing else it made that reached their senses. There was nothing to see. Men screamed and ran around, some tried shooting with crossbows or catapults with giant boulders, but the monster was hidden under the cover of the night.

All they saw was darkness and stars. Sometimes a silhouette shot by, only visible by the sudden disappearing of the stars behind it, but it was too fast and before one could aim properly it was already gone. Too fast to see or shoot at. This thing never stole food, never showed itself, and never missed. No one had ever seen a Night Fury, let alone killed one. This monster of the night was so fast and so deadly many prayed never to come across one. Those who did had not lived to tell the tale.

"WATCH OUT!"

Another blast pierced through the atmosphere and the next catapult was blasted into bits and engulfed into flames. Streets, buildings, docks and ships shattered and exploded beneath the onslaught. Villagers panicked, ran for cover and dodged flying debris as best as they could. If this wasn't hell on earth yet, then it was about to be.

A black dragon shot through the sky. Stretching out its wings and beating them to gain speed, then pressing them against itself as it dive-bombed down, wind blowing along its body creating a high-pitched whistle, making itself ready to fire another purple blast, destroying catapults and houses.

There was a rider on his back, dressed in black and brown amour, a helmet covering their face. On their back was a silver shield, made of the strongest metal existing. Its rider tucked close against the neck of the dragon and pressed the pedal, causing the left tailfin to flare.

The dragon growled low and tucked his wings against his side again. For a second they slowed down, but as they dived down they regained the speed. The dragon narrowed his eyes and started forming a plasma blast in his mouth, aiming carefully before shooting. The purple blast found its way to the harbor and it exploded, fire grasping up at the air and destroying the boats, including the huge new flagship. The rider pressed the pedal, the tailfin flared out, the dragon spread its wings to create draft and was so lifted back into the air.

When all the catapults had been brought down, and the Harbor was nothing more than some smoldering wood and debris, the rider and the dragon shot up into the night sky, climbing up higher and higher, away from the village. They were done there. They hoped Ragnar Son of Mort got the message. It was best to keep a man like him on a tight leash, making sure he didn't have enough resources to attack other islands and villages. He was a dangerous man, not one to be trifled with. But so now and then his fleet had to be thinned out a bit and it was always good to take out some of his island's defenses.

It wasn't Agnos the rider feared, though. That man was aggressive and impulsive, yes, but therefor also quite predictable. It were the silence ones you had to keep an eye out for. Ragnar was silent, but incredibly clever. He was a master strategist and made a back-up plan for everything. He made even back-up plans for his back-up plans.

He manipulated his victims in thinking they had free choice, while they didn't. He made them unknowingly choose from A and B, letting them think that when choice A seemed stupid, they would have the upper hand with option B they thought they had come up with themselves, while all along Ragnar had been in control of both choices. If one ever thought he could outsmart Ragnar by choosing option C or even D they were wrong. Ragnar had option A to Z all covered. The only thing one could do to avoid being caught in his web was to catch him positioning the strings, catch him off guard.

Something many men had tried, but only one or two had succeeded. Up was down and down was up. And when you finally thought you had the upper hand he was right around the corner to smack you back down and take away everything you love.

It was that man she had to look out for, and it was that man she  _would_  look out for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is my first posted Fanfiction here, don't be too harsh on me please. 
> 
> I just liked the idea of a female Hiccup. The rest is all normal. Toothless is a boy and stuff like that. This takes place just before HTTYD 2. So Stoick is there, but not Hiccup's mom. Chapters will be longer later. Avengers won't appear for another few chapters. Have fun reading!


	2. The Good, The Bad and The Okay I Guess

_A Month Later..._

  

She wondered if anyone noticed how pretty the sky was today, how the blue was bright and soft all at once. She wondered if they saw the serenity of the few clouds that sailed by, gently passing on toward any place the wind wished them to reach.

She wondered if they let their eyes rest upon their white tops and followed the infinite greys that blend so harmoniously with one another, almost bluish, seeing them disappear as she moved further land inwards.

Maybe they didn't.

But she did.

She watched the blue and white spring sky as the two of them glided, rising and falling, staying low over the sleek surface of the water to catch bursts of cooling spray. When they had been flying over the sea they had dived below the surface for a moment before breaching and rising again. The dragon was happy with some cooling now and then. But the river was a forbidden area. So they didn't play around.

She had switched the normal red prosthetic tailfin for different one. The red fin was her general one, it was comfortable to fly with on all areas, it had no special features however, it was just a prosthetic tail. Flying fast, diving, tight turns, diving into the water, all was possible. But just to a certain degree. The special made ones were all specialized in something, either speed, agility or something else. Now she had a yellow one, this one was lighter and stiffer. It was made of a thin sheet of Gronckle Iron. It might not be great for high altitudes but the added stability allowed them to fly along the water's surface without any wing-flap. So they came far with little effort.

They didn't want to do much effort because they were lazy, but because of the temperature. It was a warm day, too warm. Her hair was damp and sweat slowly poured down her back, making her suit all sticky and wet. The dragon was protected against the warmth a bit better than she was due to his scales which helped to retain moisture by preventing the evaporation of water through his skin. Because of that, he was less prone to dehydration and needed smaller amounts of water to survive.

But she didn't have scales, she just had vulnerable skin.

She pressed the pedal and they made a lazy turn to follow the stream of the river further inland. The dragon gave a small stroke of his wings and they went up a foot or so. They moved as one, lost in one another as they made their ways across seas and over mountains to come here, now following the endless stream of the river into the desert, the end goal in mind. They moved easily, reading each other, feeling each other responding and reacting to the slight shift of weight, the tense of muscle and the twitch of skin on skin. It was as if they shared the same mind though in different bodies, connected to each other in a way only a few would understand. Their movements tuned and synced, their physical forms braided together in flight and human was barely to be distinguished from dragon.

When they met it hadn't been exactly 'love' at first sight (he had almost killed her after she shot him down), it had been downright terrifying and she fainted after their encounter. But somewhere, deep down inside their souls, something had clicked. A sense of belonging and a connecting with the dragon she never knew she wanted but somehow always needed. It was a home that carried a heartbeat. After calming down from the first shock and looking for him again, she felt a sense of familiarity with the dragon. Like they had been down this road a thousand times before, why she felt this with a complete unfamiliar, dangerous dragon she was yet to know back then, but she followed the voice in her heart saying they somehow belonged together.

They were bound together through loss and exile, through a trial of fire and pain, bonded in ways that both knew there was no longer such a thing as standing alone. Isolation, singularity, individuality, solo... those words were foreign to them, they would never be such a thing ever again. Not at free will at least, only through force could they ever be separated.

But even when they were not together, they were connected from deeply within, communicating with each other over far distances without seeing or hearing one another. All they had to do was close their eyes and think about the other and they would know the other was thinking the same. They were living and breathing together. They were like the darkness and the light, one could not exist without the other. Neither of them had truly been alive before this partnership.

Their bond was only strengthened by the shared misery of the heat they were experiencing at this very moment.

Hiccup hoped there wouldn't be any delay on the road. She wasn't used to this type of heat. She had been born in cold, ever surrounded by ice and it had been her home. Though it was cold and bitter, everything freezing over about half of the year, it was her rock of misery. She was born in Berk. Berk was twelve days north of Hopeless, and a few degrees south of Freezing to Death. It was located solidly on the Meridian of Misery.

The village. In a word, sturdy. And it had been there for several generations, but, every single building was new. They had fishing, hunting, and a charming view of the sunsets. The only problems they once had were the pests. You see, most places have mice or mosquitoes. They had dragons. Most people would leave. Not them. They were Vikings. And Vikings had stubbornness issues. Especially Hiccup. If she got something in her head she would hold tight and not let go. And that was what the Vikings did with their village. They held tight and didn't let go. Which resulted in more than a few deaths and a lot of burned down houses.

When she was younger, there was nothing more Hiccup wanted than to kill a dragon. A dragon was the highest challenge you could get. Killing a bear would get you some points, but none of the animals could ever rise above the fire-breathing killing machines. They were the icing on the cake. If she could manage to kill one she believed her unpopularity and feeling of not fitting in would all be solved at once. Like the snap of a finger. Her father was conflicted about this. At one hand there was nothing more he wanted than his daughter becoming a great slayer of dragons who would proudly carry out their traditions and become the best chief Berk had ever known. But on the other hand, she was so small and fragile, not real dragon hunter material.

The thing about grownups was that they're always wanting you to be this Great Hero and Leader. What's wrong with being NORMAL, for Thor's sake? What's wrong with just being SO-SO at stuff? They're just totally unrealistic...

After many failed attempts to capture a dragon in the first place (let alone kill it), she shot a Night Fury out of the skies, and her life indeed took a whole other turn, but not as she'd expected. When later she looked back on it, she believed it even turned out better than she could ever had hoped for. Hence what she had become today.

But then she had always been somewhat of a square peg in a round hole.

When the idea of coming to this deserted no man's land was proposed she had thought that a warmer climate would do her some kind of good, and there was no denying her curiosity of a world she'd never seen before. After always being in a climate of constant winter, snow, rain and cold, a warmer land seemed… catchy. Everything would be different, from the animals to the vegetation, from the inhabitants to the landscapes. It would be a whole new adventure; she had never been this far before. Maybe she would even get a little color on her face.

And of course Toothless was with her on this trip, taking long, leisurely flights before the ships over the oceans. She was the ship's protector, their guard. If any threat even dared to come too close she would not wait a single moment to attack.

If Hiccup had realized what kind of extreme heat they would have to endure she would have politically declined and fought more valiantly to remain behind, in hope someone else could be sent in her place, in hope someone else could do the important delivery. But she hadn't foreseen it and now the sun was beating down on her skin. The heat was so devastating she often thought she was going to shrivel up on the spot, dehydrated. She didn't usually feel this drained, this parched. The sun seemed to bite into her, to eat into her skin and eyes despite the helmet covering her whole head and face.

She drew in a breath of heated air and managed not to choke on it, it was entirely drained from water, dust filling her mouth. She halfheartedly stroked the underside of Toothless' left ear, a bemused thoughts slipping through her mind at the image of the bulky, fur cloaked men of his clan strolling through the paved streets among the slender and slim framed natives of southern inhabitants staring at them in amazement and curiosity. They would most surely draw attention and curiosity. But then again, when did Vikings not? Their way of doing was different from other people's way of doing.

Had Hiccup switched her clothing for those of the native inhabitants and born without her brown, tousled hair and pale skin she could have easily been mistaken for a native herself. She was slender and not abnormally tall or broad like her fellow Vikings. With the right clothes she could look like she belonged to any type of tribe. Their resemblance would come in handy if ever she was confronted with danger and needed to disappear in the crowds. She wasn't that tall and easily overseen. The only thing that kept her from being able to do that was Toothless. A Night Fury always drew all the attention towards him. A Night Fury wasn't exactly 'normal'. But if normal meant being without Toothless, she didn't want to have anything to do with  _normal_.

The stories about the wonders of Port Akoaron in Ucoln had drawn Hiccup's curiosity, although it was fairly easy to draw her attention. Years of her life she had been spending travelling around, discovering every dragon species there was and writing it all down. She had studied dragons since she could walk. Her first reason to do so was the intention to use that knowledge to kill a dragon, now she used the information to protect all the dragon species and make the world a better place for them.

She had been busy strapping the saddle across Toothless' broad chest and back on the docks of Berk when a big man, with green eyes and red-brownish hair came to meet her. Like almost all Viking men, he had a very muscular figure that intimidated those who crossed his path. He had barely visible freckles and his red hair was braided at the back. The trend of braiding carried on his beard which was intricate in its many strands. His was wearing a large fur cloak draped over his shoulder, a chainmail tunic with striped pants and fur boots. He also wore spiked braces over his wrists.

That was Stoick the Vast. They say that when he was a baby, he popped a dragon's head clean off of its shoulders. If Hiccup believed that? Yes she did. Stoick was the mythic and mighty Chieftain of Berk — a great, shaggy mountain of a man whose conquests had become the stuff of Viking legend. And he was Hiccup's father.

A reformed dragon fighter, Stoick's job as protector of the people was decidedly lighter since Hiccup ushered in an era of peace. Boastful and gregarious, Stoick was now the proudest father in Berk, forever singing Hiccup's praises, even as his absentee daughter was off mapping the world instead of showing up for work. But when Stoick's plan to retire and anoint Hiccup chief was disrupted by rumblings of a terrible foe's return, Stoick wasted no time in breaking out the old armor and charging off to defend what was his.

Stoick was the one leading the journey to Akoaron, so when he stepped onto the docks she didn't think much of it at first; he was probably just checking the cargom ordering people around and whatnot. Stoick was the chief of Berk and the most stubborn man Hiccup had ever met.

Stoick had a strong sense of responsibility and took pride in being a chief. More than once he had said that Hiccup would be a great chief, maybe one of the bests to have ever been chief of Berk. But as a chief, he adhered to certain 'Viking ways' at times, believing that it was better for the village. This, however, also gave him the flaw of being rather close-minded and inflexible, with a strong lack of perspective. He tended to do things the straightforward, 'Viking way' and dismiss alternatives, even if it was ultimately detrimental.

Furthermore, he was extremely stubborn and head-strong, making it difficult for others to change his mind when setting on a certain course. It was easy for him to get upset or emotionally riled up, which, combined with the aforementioned traits, often lead him to make rash and uninformed decisions when he thought what he was doing was right, ignoring the advice of even those he trusted the most. Nevertheless, though this attitude made him seem unintelligent at times, he was shown to be able to listen and take advice, even use it when needed. He did listen, only he often decided not to do anything with it.

When he had stepped onto the docks with big, confident steps Stoick had appeared calm and in control of everything, as he often looked. He yelled some things at the Vikings loading the boats and threw a few heavy baskets of food onto the deck himself. Hiccup kept focusing her attention on Toothless' saddle rather than her father, he was always like that.

But as he came closer Hiccup saw his brows were knitted together and his mouth was a tight line. He was  _worried_. Stoick was never worried, he was the chief of Berk, an about seven feet tall muscled rock with red hair, and the thought of him being worried was almost laughable.

The thing that hadn't been laughable was what he had to say. Her jaw had clenched and she had crossed her arms before her chest when Stoick had practically forbade Toothless to come into the city of Akoaron, or even coming close to it. She had been angry and ready to argument, but Stoick had told her Akoaron was one of the most important cities in all of Ljósfold. The Light Realm where Berk was settled. It was one of the Ten-Realms in the universe that were all connected by an invisible tree known as Yggdragsil. It was the realm of Dragons and Vikings. And on Ljósfold, Ucoln was a powerful empire, and not one to be trifled with.

Hiccup hadn't understand it at first, but all the pieces clicked when the chief told her the port of Akoaron was famous and big because it was the biggest  _trading post_ of Ljósfold. A huge port with traders from all over the world, with their merchandise from all over the world. There were honest traders, but naturally there were also traders of the Black Market. Dragons were not safe there, especially a dragon like Toothless.

Hiccup's shoulders had slumped, but she understood, she couldn't go. There was no way she would ever bring Toothless in the line of fire if she could easily prevent it. And there was no way she would go alone. Not because she couldn't protect herself, but she loathed the idea of going somewhere to have fun where her partner could not go. It was simply not how their relationship worked. Either they went in together or they didn't went in at all.

So instead of strolling through the streets of Akoaron, marveling about all the different people and things the many traders sold, she had settled for another important job, important for Berk (which had some setbacks lately and lost a lot of gold). They needed her, so she lend them a hand. Her whole relationship with Berk was complicated. She was part of the tribe, but at the same time she was more of an outsider. Though her feeling of not belonging had  _almost_  entirely disappeared when she and her dragon were accepted in the village.

And on top of that the whole village had started training dragons too. Soon a lot of them came knocking on her door for flight lessons. So they all wanted to be dragon riders. Looked like fun. Well it wasn't. It was hard, and it was dangerous. She showed them that alright. The Berkians were flying around like headless chickens and their dragons weren't any better. Though it was a relief to see those stubborn bastards finally struggle with something for a change. They said it couldn't be that hard, but then they actually had to get onto a dragon. They had played 'The Barbarians Are Attacking Berk' and she had some fun shooting those stubborn bastards from their saddles. She couldn't help but feeling proud when after Lesson One they all told her what an amazing flyer she was, and that they hadn't realized how hard it actually was.

About a day ago a little birdy had told her Stoick and Gobber were sailing out to new land, for some meeting or whatever, and without any doubt she wanted to come along, new land was always amazing. She hadn't asked what kind of meeting, or about what it was. But now she thought about it, she actually kinda wanted to know.

Gobber was Stoick's crass, opinionated friend and trusty right-hand man. In five years, he had gone from village blacksmith, forging weapons for dragon slaying, to building saddles for riding them. He even performed dragon dentistry! Peace, as it turned out, was hard work and Gobber had seen the brunt of it, tasked with building dragon-friendly contraptions that made living with the beasts possible.

As a result, Gobber seemed constantly put upon, his complaints echoed only by Grump, his fussy lay-about dragon. Grump maybe was lazy and kinda stupid even, he was loyal and was always ready to jump in if anyone dared to attack his rider. Though outwardly curmudgeonly, Gobber was actually the most loyal and kindhearted Viking around — he just wouldn't want anyone to know it.

Gobber was a large, muscular, and bald Viking with a long, braided blond mustache. He wore a tunic made of fur and a helmet with yak horns. Gobber also wore a prosthetic left arm and right leg after both of said limbs were devoured by Monstrous Nightmares during his youth. He had told that tale countless times.

_With one twist, he took my hand and swallowed it whole! I saw the look on his face… I was delicious! He must have passed the word because it wasn't a month before another one of them took my leg!_

He also sported a prosthetic tooth ever since his original tooth got knocked out by a 'frozen Viking', or so he said. He found some treasure in an ice berg but then he got punched by a frozen Viking twice and there was a giant hammerhead whale and some hammerhead yak that saluted at him. Sometimes the people of Berk questioned Gobber's sanity. He was still the best though.

After being forbade to go into Akoaron Stoick said he had some other task for Hiccup. He wanted her to go deliver something to a certain village. It was a long travel and probably wasn't without danger, but it was to help Berk and it was better than nothing. But then again, if Hiccup had known that long days spent drifting and sailing between the peaks and valleys would have subjected them to the humidity and heat they were in now she would have politely declined to the task.

When they had been flying above the sea on their way, sometimes diving down in the cool, blue water the heat hadn't bothered them even the slightest. Waves came, transient yet always there, rising, falling. They scattered the light, the hue of the water ever changing yet always familiar, always blue. She missed the way the salty breeze played with her hair, blowing cool air in her face and making the waves rise high. She missed the salty air tickling her nose and the Thunderdrums skimming through the sea below her.

Before her departure she asked around a bit about heat, because she did know that where she was going it would be warm, and she got some tips. It was best to leave early in the morning, when the sun hadn't come up yet. It was also wise to fly through covered places such as forests so the sun wouldn't directly shine on them all the time. But of course, the sun had to come up some time and when it did they were bathing in the heat, it pressed down on her chest, making it a bit harder to breathe properly. And there wasn't any forest to hide in, just an endless plain of sand.

She took a shallow breath again and leaned forwards, making sure her iron prosthesis stayed in the same position in the stirrup so it didn't disturb Toothless' lazy flight. She looked down onto the surface of the river and wiped her sweaty hands on her trousers. The fabric of it was warming up in the sun and she hated how it felt so tight and warm around her legs. It was all so sticky and wet. She was losing way too much sweat. She was probably gonna get a headache of that later.

She idly watched their shadow, the surface of the river darkened by the shadow of massive stretch of the Night Fury's wingspan. The water underneath them looked cold and fresh, it wasn't very deep and the water was remarkably clean. The river was a sleeping cobra. It lied across the land in smooth seductive curves, beautiful in the morning light, cool and innocuous. Yet it hid a myriad of dangers, such as strong currents below the surface, animals she had not seen before and did not appear on her island, though she had no desire to come across them.

Hiccup sighed, despite the heat, content. This task wasn't the hardest, and the reward wasn't bad at all. The only catch was the travel through the heat, although it would have been ten times worse if she wasn't flying a dragon. She had no idea how someone was going to travel through this desert with no flying transport. Like… on a yak or..? Perhaps a horse but even then. Dragons could travel miles on a few wing flaps while horses would always have to continue walking and walking and walking and walking. Poor things. Perhaps one of those… those huge animals with the long legs, long neck and the one or two bumps on their back. Two very similar looking animals but still different species. One had one bump on the back and the other two. She had only briefly seen one of those animals and they scared a bit. They were so large and intimidating. And the way they stood up with someone on their back was quite… impressive.

Her eyes drifted back to the surface of the river and watched their shadow as it glided over the surface, black against the blue. She wished to take a dive into the water, but this part of the river wasn't safe. There were rivers and lakes in which it was safe to swim, but not this. People would rather stay away. They would rather stay away from this river in particular. She was flying through the land of Wrurora. It was mostly desert with some plains and of course, the river. They called it Háski, meaning danger. A river did not just get a name like that. So she didn't go into the water, no matter how hot she was. No matter how sticky her clothes were or how refreshing that water looked.

Her vision grew hazy for a moment and she narrowed her eyes, unsure if it had been there or if it had been the heat blurring her vision. At first the heat had made her eyes tear up, but now they were too dry. Sometimes the landscape would dance before her eyes. She blinked a few times and looked again, this time seeing it clearer. The shadow had changed. The Night Fury had tilted a bit to the left, but it was like if the shadow hadn't been paying attention and stayed behind a second too long. Hiccup's brow furrowed. She took her bottle of water and sprinkled some on her face, not much, she had to ration the water left. She also took a sip before looking back at the shadow.

It was still there.

Maybe it was nothing, maybe a trick of the light or the heat. But she knew tricks, she knew what was real and what not, she had dealt with illusions before. And this, this was real. This was truly there. She blinked slowly, her eyes glancing at her left and at her right, she glanced up but didn't move her head, only her eyes. Whatever it was, it couldn't know that she knew it was there.

She saw nothing. A tight knot formed in her stomach, what if it was right above her, or directly behind her? But if that was the case, Toothless would have long known it by now. Night Furies had a good sense of smell from a certain distance, and this thing was close. It had to be close or it wouldn't cast a shadow like that. Gently she moved her weight, she put her hand on the dragon's head, bending over towards him a bit. "Up, bud. Just a little."

The Night Fury let out a soft growl, sniffing the dry, hot air a few times, then shaking his head. The dragon stroked his wings a few times, slowly, without bending them completely. Just some lazy moving. The river became smaller underneath them as they went up higher, but she had to be careful as the prosthetic tailfin wasn't made for high altitudes or fast flying. This was a new thing she had tried and she feared the paper was so thin it would tear if they weren't careful enough.

Hiccup looked down again at the water surface below her, the knot in her stomach getting tighter as the shadow hadn't disappeared. It was almost like it wasn't there but she saw it. Her eyes were sharp, and she knew that when you thought 'haha I probably just imagined it' you  _probably_  didn't.

She had only noticed it because she had seen the shadow of her partner a million times, and she could picture it clearly with her eyes closed. She had filled a whole book with pictures of her friend and practiced many times by just watching him do his own things for hours. This shadow seemed to be... longer. Toothless body was too wide. It didn't fit his length. And even with altitude change it wouldn't go away. It only looked weirder.

Toothless let out a low growl, his ears twitched; he was sensing the rider's tension and worries. The dragon had felt his friend stiffen a bit, her hands clenched the saddle handle and she kept staring at something below them, telling him his human was seeing something that was odd. Something was not right and it was upsetting here. She couldn't be sure of immediate danger because if there was she would have said something, she didn't. She remained silent.

The dragon let out a hum, cocking his head towards his rider a bit. Hiccup bend over to him again.

"Easy bud," she said. Toothless let out another hum, easy? He would be easy when he knew what was going on! "Let's speed up a bit."

The dragon twitched his ears around, searching for anything out of the ordinary. But all he heard was the wind softly blowing and the annoying buzzing of some flees around his head. He moved his tail a bit, checking if the prosthetic fin was still secured against his skin. He raised his wings and beat them a few times. At first a bit soft, to get the blood circulation going again, but then harder. The dragon wished he knew what was going on, because he didn't like this a bit.

Hiccup focused her gaze at the shadow below, her eyes narrowing and her heartbeat fastening. She saw it, she was sure. A big hump appeared below Toothless' wing, a bit oblong shaped. So there was something! As they were going faster and higher up, the shadow eventually split. At one side there was Toothless, a long body with two, large wings at each side and a long tail, and then there was a smaller, oblong like shadow. But it seemed to be just a body, no wings nor a tail to be seen anywhere. Just some random, formless thing. Somehow moving forward through the air.

This thing was flying without wings.

That screamed magic.

That screamed  _run_.

"Go bud, go!" she yelled. The dragon glanced at his side and saw the second shadow too. His pupils became vertical slits at the realization of he and his human being in possible danger. He felt the stiffness of Hiccup in the saddle and he didn't wasted any more seconds. He beat his wings down hard, turning his body upwards to gain altitude, his tail annoyingly twitching at the feeling of the fake tailfin already protesting.

They both knew the tailfin wasn't designed for either flying high or flying fast, but they had to try. Toothless beat his wings faster and faster, Hiccup pressed herself against his back, one of her hands curled around the weapon on her thigh, in case she would need it. They raced away from the thing like an arrow from a bow.

Hiccup pressed the pedal, the tail flared and they made a sharp turn, away from the river. There weren't any forests to hide in, nor caves or mountains, there was nothing to hide either in or behind. The land of Wrurora was a plain area, just sand, some grasses, maybe a lone, small tree or bush here and there but except for the river and the sand there was nothing. No woods, no mountains, no caves, no ravines, nothing. Their only hope was flying fast and hoping it wouldn't be able to catch up with a Night Fury with a disabled tail.

They jackknifed, heading skyward, his wings pounded hard as his determination grew. He had to get out of there, faster and faster and faster. This wasn't game they were playing, this was no 'follow the leader' type of thing. This was serious. Hiccup and Toothless had dealt with somewhat 'explainable' things in the past, and that was not something they were eager to repeat. They were warned about magic, how dark it could be. And magic always came at a price, a price that most people  _thought_  they were willing to pay while they actually weren't. Of course there was good magic, but most magic was dark. And whatever was following them... Hiccup just had a gut feeling that told her it was no good. What good could a formless, somehow flying thing be?

Hiccup carefully glanced over her shoulder, looking for anything that might be following her, but there was nothing there. She just saw the plain terrain of the desert, stretched out behind her. The sand, the few rocks and more sand. A frown appeared on her face. She pressed the pedal again and Toothless slowed down a bit. She risked sitting up, looked around, holding her hand above her eyes to shield them from the sun. Still nothing. No formless, flying thing. They were alone. All alone. She furrowed her eyebrows and wiped her sweaty hands off her trousers.

"You see anything, Toothless?" Hiccup asked.

Toothless sniffed a few times, he turned his head to the sides and perked his ears, but he too saw nothing.

"I saw something," Hiccup said, "I saw that shadow right beside yours. You saw it too, right bud? Tell me you saw it too."

Toothless cocked his head towards his rider again and hummed, his ears turning and twitching, trying to catch any sounds. He had seen it too, the weird shadow besides them hadn't exactly been hard to miss. It wasn't some heat thing, the threat was real and the fact it had gone up in smoke scared them. He shook his head, then he let out a low, vibrating roar, his ears perking up.

When Night Furies were at locations where their visual sight was limited, making it dangerous to fly, they could use a special roar. This roar bounced off all objects and obstacles nearby and allowed the dragon to avoid them, even in mid-flight, like echolocation. Unlike bats, this roar, or at least part of it, was still low enough to be within human hearing range; humans were able to hear the dragon using the roar. Night Furies could also use this method when they were trying to find an object in open areas where visibility was low, such as in snowstorms or high above in the clouds. Or perhaps even things that perfectly blend in with their environment, such as Changewings.

But there was nothing, the vibration of sound didn't bounce off because it had nothing to bounce off from. Nothing. Not even something invisible. It worried them both. Even though it was still burning hot, both dragon and dragon rider were feeling cold inside and wanted to speed things up a bit, so Toothless beat his wings almost as hard as a minute ago and they shot forward, the yellow tailfin already protesting weakly. They couldn't wait until they were in Hodale, the little village at the other side of the land of Wrurora.

They had to deliver something there, and they got paid there. Hiccup already knew she would switch Toothless' tailfin also. Whatever was stalking them here, following them for a while, it was bad news. Though, it did not attack while it obviously had plenty of perfect opportunities to. It could have dived right on top of them, it could have easily knocked Hiccup from the saddle or lash out at them with whatever kind of attack strategy it had. Claws? Teeth? Swords? Maces?

Again, Hiccup glanced behind her. She noticed Toothless was bending back to the stream of the river. She didn't blame him, above water it was always just this little cooler. Maybe that thing that had been above them had to do with the warning of the river. Maybe this was the thing that people were warned for. She didn't know what it was, she didn't get a good look at it (or any look at all, actually), but that thing was flying without wings and so silent Toothless hadn't even noticed it. And that said something.

Even though it could be deadly to come back into this deserted desert, both dragon and rider's curiosity got drawn. They were coming back. Oh, they were  _definitely_  coming back. But not now, now was not the right time, now they were too vulnerable.


	3. I’m Packing Up My Crayons and Leaving

Hiccup pressed the pedal and Toothless flared out his wings to slow down. He stretched out his paws and they made a soft landing on the ground, just outside the village. Toothless hummed at the houses and cocked his head to look at Hiccup. She swung her legs to the same side and hopped off Toothless' back. She briefly checked if she still had her weapons and the delivery. Then she changed the yellow, thin prosthetic tail for her usual, red one. So if they had to make a quick exit, they could.

The village existed from houses made of sandstone, with roofs made of dry wood. It wasn't much a big village, but there were still quite some houses. The people were wearing some sort of long, cotton dresses, covering their whole body. They also had scarfs wrapped around their neck and head, covering all of their faces but the eyes. Hiccup knew she was wearing a helmet that covered just as much, but it gave the people a creepy look. Toothless didn't like it either. If some people wear scarfs covering their whole face it was okay, but ALL these people were wearing it.

She felt horribly out of place in this town. At least at the port of Akoaron she wouldn't have been the only stranger. She wouldn't have been the only one with foreign clothing. Akoaron was a city which held many travelers, it was a city where many travelers stayed for the night because it had one of the biggest ports of Ljósfold.

But here she stood out with her black body amour, brown leather suit, light green pants, prosthetic leg and black leather boots.

Oh, and not forgetting the 26 feet long dragon walking next to her.

She stepped into the town and gave her surroundings a good look. It all looked the same. All houses made of sandstone with wooden rooftops. Everywhere she looked was sand. Sand, sand, sand and again, sand. She didn't like all the sand.

She liked knee-high grass to roll in, trees to hide after and to sit under in the shadow, hiding from the sun. She liked the rivers lazily streaming through the land. The trees of yesteryear lying upon the forest floor lied, fallen in storms long forgotten. The seasons in Berk were harsh, stripping away the bark and outer layers, yet rendering them all the more beautiful. She missed the several houses tall pine trees, how they were reaching toward the golden rays of spring. Birdsong came in lulls and bursts, the silence and the singing working together as well as any improvised melody.

Now all she had was sand, heat and drought. And more sand of course. Barely some animals. Only that lizard sitting on that rock over there. Oh wait… it's dead.

Hiccup sighed and motioned for Toothless to follow her. He let out a low rumble in his chest, but cautiously followed her. He didn't like it here either. He wasn't used to this climate, the sand felt uncomfortable underneath his paws, it was too hot and there were no places to hide, no forests or bushes, just endless sand. Clearly no environment for a Night Fury. Maybe for a Sand Wraith, a Tidal Class expert in camouflage that buried itself in the sand. It was a good way to surprise their prey… and avoid sunburn! Or perhaps even a Sandbuster, those things were very annoying too.

So maybe for them this was the ideal environment but not for dragons that took their advantage of hiding in bushes and flying through forests. Or for dragons that couldn't withstand heat such as the Snow Wraith.

Toothless whined softly, his human looked down on him and laid an assuring hand on his head. He licked it and purred. The faster they were out of this place the better, he thought, perking his ears up. He  _was_  craving for some water and food though. Especially water, his throat was as dry as this desert. He knew she had given almost all her water to him, because he had to fly constantly, so he knew she was thirsty too.

Hiccup looked around for a well, and smiled when she found one. This village was built next to a water source, an oasis they called it she believed. Hiccup wondered how there could be a sudden source of water in the middle of the desert, but she was only glad.

As she had reached one of the wells in the village, her eyes dropped to the water; it looked clean enough to drink. She grabbed the bucket with the rope and let it down into the well until she heard a faint splash. She waited a moment before pulling the rope to get it back up. She put the bucket on the edge of the well and looked again. The water was transparent and clean. She bent down with cupped hands and drank, drips falling from her lips, sending ripples in ever widening circles until they disappeared.

She repeated the action a few times before putting the bucket in front of Toothless, who immediately started drinking. "Easy boy, easy. Not too much and not too fast," she warned. Even though Toothless was dying for some water, he managed to restrain himself and drank slowly, with small sips.

When you take a drink to help rehydrate your body you should drink slowly so your body has time to absorb the water. If you drink too quickly you can flood your kidneys and they will want to get rid of the excess water, which is counterproductive. Slower, consistent drinking is far more helpful when you're trying to rehydrate. Even with slow, small sips Toothless had finished the water in a short time. Hiccup grabbed the bucked and filled it again, taking a few sips herself first and filling her water bottles before passing the bucket through to Toothless again.

When they both had drank enough water they looked for the house of the person they had to deliver the package to. It had to be somewhere in the middle of the desert, it made sense. It was the house of the chief and the chief's house was always either in the center or build on a higher spot. The young Nordic and her dragon walked at what they believed to be the main road that would lead to the center of the almost-ghost town.

On their way, someone bumped against Hiccup's shoulder roughly. She glared up and watched a man walk past her from behind. There was enough space next to her to walk why did he bump against her? That's quite rude. The man looked over his shoulder, an angry expression on his face, his eyebrows down and his mouth a thin line. But he walked along again, entering a house quickly.

They heard barking, a loud aggressive sound. Both dragon and rider looked up. A man, whose face wasn't covered, walked past with a rather large dog next to him, tethered by the kind of rope you could moor a yacht with. The dog was barking and growling, pulling at the rope.

"What's the matter with you? Go on!" the owner of the dog said, yanking the rope. Toothless was sitting next to Hiccup, he cocked his head to the side and looked at the dog. Well, as Hiccup looked better, she saw it was more like a wolf. It had large, round ears and a long muzzle. The lips were pulled back in a snarl and it was viciously barking at Toothless, fangs on full display. And again, it was big.

"Go on now! Get!" the man said and he pulled the rope again. He glared at Hiccup. "You're upsetting my dog!" he snapped.

"We are bothering no one. Move on, and your dog will be fine," she answered icily.

People started to gather around the two, curious about what was happening. Hiccup scoffed internally. Of course, when two people were having some sort of argument everyone had to look. She saw other people had dogs too. They appeared calm at first, but they became uneasy as the wolf-dog continued barking and growling.

"I don't take orders from outsiders!" the man snapped. "Anybody moves, it's gonna be you."

"We want no trouble," Hiccup said.

"That's right. You don't," the man said, somewhat triumphantly. No exactly, that's what she  _just_  said, where people in the south stupid? Hiccup didn't quite know why he was being triumphantly either. It was a Night Fury against a wolf. Okay, a rather big wolf. Standing on all four he would be able to look Toothless right in the eye. If they both stood on their hind legs Toothless would be way larger though, as his body was longer. But she did guess that if the wolf would stand on its hind legs he would maybe even be bigger than her.

It wasn't a normal wolf, this one was clearly alien. She had seen drawings of different kinds of animals on different planets, the wolf was one of them. Midgardian wolves were a medium size. Dangerous, but not that big that it would be bigger than a human standing on its hind legs. This one looked more like a wolf that you could find on Alfheim, the realm of the Light Elves.

For some reason, the Light Elves were kinda really obsessed with evolving every type of animal one could possibly find to make it bigger and more dangerous. Their flies were about the size of a hand like, why would you even? So probably this man had his wolf from there. They even had rats the size of yaks… Yakrats! Or so she had been told.

Hiccup didn't want to risk having problems, so she grabbed her bag tightly, swung it over her shoulder and continued walking. She made sure to leave as must space as possible between her and the wolf as she passed them, Toothless following her loyally.

The man scoffed as she had passed. A rather small and old man walked up at him from behind. Hel leaned over to the man with the wolf. "Where'd that Viking get off acting like she's so much better than you are?" he whispered, so quietly Hiccup didn't hear it. This little man had seen the Night Fury, he wanted to know something, gain information. And he was almost sure to see what he wanted to know. This aggressive man with his aggressive wolf were the means to an end.

The man with the wolf inhaled deeply. "Don't worry. I got a surprise for her."

He bend down to the wolf and loosened the rope around its neck. The wolf snarled and barked. Immediately running after Hiccup. She heard a thumping sound coming closer fast, along with a lot of barking. Spooked, she turned around and saw the big wolf running right at her. Her hand went to her thigh where a weapon was strapped against her leg.

But before she could pull it Toothless growled and ran back past her, he and the wolf jumped up at the same time in the air. Toothless was larger, but the wolf wasn't small either. Hiccup could see the big muscles roll underneath the fur as it jumped up, mouth wide open. Toothless' mouth was open too, teeth showing, he didn't need a plasmablast for this. He lashed out with his claw in mid-air, sending the wolf straight back to the ground.

The wolf climbed up hasty, Toothless ran at it. The wolf stood up at its hind legs, making itself as big as possible. Toothless rose up on his hind legs too, raising above the wolf. But Toothless was smart; he fell back on all four paws and attacked the wolf's now unprotected belly: he bumped his head as hard as he could against it. The wolf whined loudly as he crashed down on his back.

The dragon jumped in the air and landed with a loud thud right before the other animal, not actually attacking, just to scare it. He pulled his lips back in a snarl, and opened his mouth. The wolf whined again. Purple heat formed in the back of the dragon's throat.

"Toothless no!" Hiccup yelled. The dragon glanced over at her before looking back at the wolf again. He opened his mouth and roared a loud warning. Then he returned back to Hiccup's side, growling at everyone who stood too close.

The owner of the wolf walked back at his pet as Toothless was far away enough. "You alright boy?" he asked. The wolf whined. He attached the rope to the collar again. He stood up and looked at Hiccup again. Toothless stood close by her side, still pissed off, his ears stood erect, his pupils slits and he was staring right at the man. "Let's go," the man said and he pulled the wolf with him. The other people looking at the fight left too.

Hiccup couldn't suppress a little smile tugging at her lips as she saw them leave. They wouldn't be bothered by them anymore that was for sure. And if they dared to come back and threaten them, Toothless wasn't the only one who was going to be very pissed off and attack. Her fingers trailed across the side of the weapon on her thigh, she used it as little as possible, but if she or Toothless was in danger she wouldn't hesitate to.

Though she was somewhere completely else, it seemed like there would always be someone who was bothering her or even attacking. The past months she had been in this cat and mouse game with Ragnar and Agnos. Mostly Ragnar though. He made a move, she responded. She made a move, he responded. They weren't really going anywhere with it, but at least she was saving dragons from him and destroying his ships. Why were there such bad people on the planet?

"Hey you."

Hiccup looked at her side, at whoever had spoken. There was a little man standing next to her. He had short, grey hair lying flat on his head, big ears on the side of his head and two greedy, grey eyes. In his hand he held a cane on which he was leaning.

"Yes?" Hiccup asked.

"That dragon is a born fighter, my lady. Train him right, and there'd be no stopping him."

Hiccup scoffed and looked at Toothless, the dragon was sitting a few foot away, not really paying attention to his human and the man she was talking to, more at the other people and their pets, searching for any more danger to get rid of. If there was one thing he hated it was people threatening his human. That wolf had some nerve, attacking in their back. Obviously that overgrown mutt had no sense of honor.

"He's a Night Fury, duh," Hiccup said. She grabbed her bag and walked away from the man. Toothless' ears perked up as he heard her walking and he followed her, staying close to her side to protect her from the mean villagers.

She heard panting, quick footsteps and a thudding sound, like a stick on stones. The panting and the footsteps came from the creepy, little man, and the thuds came from his cane. He catched up with her and stopped her by standing in her way. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"So, what do you say?" he asked.

Hiccup raised a brow. "What do I say about what?"

"Come on, name your price. How much for the dragon."

Toothless flattened his ears back and lowered his body a bit, the head dipping down, his pupils were dilated and his gaze shot back and forth from Hiccup to the man and back. A sign, her fingers twitching and moving apart from each other as if expressing an explosion, that was all he need to attack. A Night Fury was the smartest dragon there was, and Hiccup had the idea he could understand human language. He understood this man wanted to buy him, take him away from his friend. So all she needed to do was move her fingers in an explosion movement, and he'd be right on it. Hiccup clenched her hand to a fist.

"He is not for sale," she said sharply, with an edge of irritation. She made a little movement with her fingers, a small flick of her wrist and the tips of her fingers touching each other. Toothless saw it and relaxed a bit.

"Good evening."

She continued walking, annoyance building up in her body by the man. He wanted to take her precious dragon away from her. Buy him, only to sell him again, probably for a higher profit. What was he thinking? She wouldn't sell Toothless for all the money in the world. No, not for all the money in the Universe. She would die before she would do something like that to him. She saw him as her equal, he had personality and understood things. He wasn't some mindless animal that was okay with anyone buying him and dragging him around, he wasn't a toy.

"Hey my lady, wait a sec."

Hiccup clenched her hands to fists again, she kept walking, the man could choke. He catched up with her again.

"Hey don't get me wrong. I was trying to help. So tell me, what brings you around here? Buying stuff for your people?"

Hiccup rolled her eyes, there wasn't much to buy here in the first place. She wished he'd just go away. Sticky people were one of the most annoying people. "No, I came to deliver a package. I sort of do deliveries for my tribe."

The man's face cracked open in a grin. "A delivery? Oh, you've came a long way for just a delivery, why take  _this_  job? I bet there are more other jobs less dangerous and less difficult."

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Probably, but this one just pays well."

The man stopped walking, panting. "You got money trouble."

Hiccup felt herself tense. Now he knew  _a_  tribe had money trouble, but luckily he didn't know  _which_  tribe. That could be dangerous for the village. Their money setback was the result of another one of her 'wars' with Ragnar. He had sunk their trading ships and without trade things on Berk got tight. She remembered how angry Stoick had gotten, that Ragnar had expanded his warzone to Berk, to innocent people. She wondered what Ragnar's next move was, she hadn't seen him for a while. At least not since the gathering on Barbarian Island which she had rudely interrupted by blowing up their ships.

"Let's say  _my_  village got a little setback and things are a little… tight," she said, putting the emphasis on 'my'. Why would he care anyway? It wasn't any of his business.

She tapped the tips of her thumb and index finger against each other behind her body two times. Toothless' ears perked up, his gaze shot from the man to her hand and back, then he blew out his chest, spread his wings slightly and he made himself big. The man took a little step back. Toothless snarled and raised on his hind legs slightly, so his front legs came from the ground, but only a little.

But then the man grinned at her. "You see now, that's where it's good to have a friend in me. I'd pay fifty gold pieces for that dragon of yours. Right here, right now."

Hiccup sighed and shook her head, hadn't she made herself clear the first time? This man really didn't want to know anything else than 'no'. Seemed like she would have to repeat herself. "He is not for sale. I will only deliver that package, I don't sell anything."

The man began to look irritated. Hiccup thought he had to fuck off. She didn't care that he was irritated, because she definitely was. Irritated that began to tilt onto angry. "I'm only doing this because we are pals. Who's gonna say you even get paid at all? The chief will keep the money, he always does."

Hiccup put her hands on her hips and furrowed her eyebrows. "I think me and Toothless can make sure we get what we are here for, we don't need you for that. We're fine as we are and that is together."

She needed distance and Hiccup was determined to walk away with her head held high, walk far enough to be out of sight before jumping onto Toothless' back and flying the hell out of here, circling around the village so they avoided this nasty man as they were looking for the house of the Chief. But she managed barely a step before her arm was roughly grabbed, a big, heavy hand with long, thin fingers closing around her bicep hard enough to hurt and wrenching her back around. "I made you a fair offer, and you walk away? I want that dragon!"

Toothless saw the danger and responded. He snarled and growled lowly, his ears perked up and his pupils slits. The man's hand loosened enough for Hiccup to pull her arm back and she did, taking a spooked step back. The dragon reared, his wings flaring and aggressively flapping away, his mouth opened in a roar and his front paws clawing through the air as a purple glow emerged from his throat, together with green gas. "Toothless! No!"

The dragon stopped snarling and growling, but didn't let the man out of his sight. Hiccup shoved the man aside roughly, she had enough of him. "Go away before I send my dragon after you. Come bud."

The dragon and rider continued walking, they still had a package to deliver.

"This ain't over yet!" the man yelled.

Toothless turned halfway around and opened his mouth, building up heat for fire a warning shot. Hiccup gently laid her hand on his chin and head. "Not now bud, not yet. We don't want to make things worse."

The dragon rumbled and closed his mouth. Not yet.

* * *

    

The chief of the village opened the box Hiccup had to deliver and nodded pleased. She had delivered the right thing and he had been waiting for it for a long time. There had been no one else who had been willing to do the job, as Hiccup had expected. The journey was too long and too dangerous. The box was made of wood, with gilded edges and a pretty seal of silver to close it. Hiccup craned her neck a bit to see what was in the box but the chief closed it before she could take a look.

Great, now she was never gonna know what was in the box. She could always ask it, but that would be rude. And she didn't want to be rude to this desert clan. She knew nothing about them, they barely spoke and hid their face all the time. She had taken off her helmet as a gesture of respect, to show them she meant no harm. But they in return didn't take their scarfs off and she had still no idea how they looked. It made her a bit nervous. Especially inside a small, cramped up house where Toothless couldn't come inside. He was waiting outside the house, guarding, watching. Making sure nobody would interrupt his human and the chief doing business. Making sure no wolf was to attack them. She wondered who that box was for.

"This will do, thank you. Wait here, I'll get the payment."

The chief walked through a door to another room. That creepy, little man had been wrong; she  _was_ getting paid. She hoped that creep was gone as she walked back, or when she was going to take a little tour through the village. She wanted to get a look around in peace, not with some guy threatening her and trying to buy her dragon. She hated that guy already, and she didn't even know who he was. She hated all people who took interest in her bonded just for profits. She hoped that one day she would meet someone who was actually interested in him in a positive way. For who he was and not for how much he could be sold.

Suddenly she grew a little nervous and glanced at the door. What if he was going to try to  _steal_  Toothless? What if he was standing outside, waiting for her to go inside so she couldn't watch or interfere as he grabbed her dragon and would take him? She promised herself to immediately run outside at even the slightest of sounds.

Hiccup moved her weight to her other leg and looked around the house. It was dusty and sandy. Not really her taste. And so hot. She hated the heat. Some warm sunlight to lie in to relax was okay, warm weather perfect to sit outside or to swim was fine too. But this was so hot your skin almost burned off, sunbathing was definitely not an option.

In this heat she could barely formulate a thought. There was no cooling breeze or cloud to block the high, burning sun. She curled her fingers around the wrist of her other hand. Even if she would take a dive into the well in the village, it wouldn't be enough, like an ice cube into hot soup.

"Wind stirs up the wispy sand and the sun's never ending rays beat down on you mercilessly," a voice said. For the umpteenth time today she looked at her side. An old woman was looking at her, she wasn't covered by a scarf and there was a friendly smile on her face.

"What?" Hiccup asked.

"Salty sweat rolls off your nose and stings your eyes. Your clothing is overwhelmingly hot and sticky. The stiff, dry desert breeze blows sand into your eyes and makes your hair stiff with salt. Your tongue feels as if it's coated in fur and your lips are chapped and dry. You long for crystal, cold water. But there isn't any. You want to rest, to sit down, but you know you can't, you have to keep walking, or you'll never reach your destiny. What do you do?"

Hiccup blinked a few times as she took in the woman's words. "Eh, I—eh," she stumbled over her words. The old woman took one of her hands and looked at her with a deadly serious look.

"The Wrurora desert is a dangerous place, my girl. The heat is unbearable, especially at mid-day. The desert is long, maybe not the longest but it doesn't have to be long to kill you. The terrible heat does. There is a river floating through Wrurora, the Háski, but no plant grows next to the water. Why is that you think?"

Hiccup thought for a moment. She had noticed it, on the way here. Not one little speck of green or something was to be seen. Not even one little plant. Not even a cactus, though she had seen them at the beginning of the desert. "There is something with the water," she answered. "It's not safe. Is it poisonous?"

The old woman shook her head. "That is the mystery. The water from our wells comes from the Háski, as the water is fresh and clean, perfect drinking water. There is no fish in the water. Animals refuse to drink from the river, but they happily drink from the well, even though it's the same water. Some even believe there is something magical with the water, that it gives you strength."

The woman mentioned for her to come closer. Hiccup slowly took a little step closer. She had to bend over because the woman was much smaller than she was. They were face to face, as if they were sharing a secret nobody else was allowed to hear.

"There is something in that river, it lives there. You cannot see it, for it can go up in its environment like a chameleon. Invisible to the eye. You can only see its shadow, if you look closely. And if it's not swimming through the water, waiting for unknowing humans to step into the water to consume them. It flies through the air, though it has no wings, but that doesn't stop them. They blend in with the sky so even as they fly you can't see them. What would you do if you came across one?"

Hiccup let the words sink in. Flying, not seeing anything. Her eyes grew wide. The shadow on the water, she had come across one. And why did this sound so familiar to her? Swimming, blending in with the environment. There were more magical creatures with these abilities, Changewings for instance, they were like Chameleons but then dragons, but they had wings. And they didn't like swimming. And they weren't big fans of desert, not enough places to hide.

"You have come across one, haven't you?" the woman asked with wide, round eyes. Hiccup nodded. "Yes, on the way here. I thought we were being followed by something, I saw a shadow on the water of the river. But I didn't see anything casting it. We got out as fast as we could."

The woman seemed to have a hard time believing that. "You can't run from them, they are too fast."

"We were flying, and they aren't fast enough for a Night Fury," she said proudly.

The woman opened her mouth to say something but she got cut off. "Mother! Stop bothering the post woman with your nonsense. She has to go." The chief came back from the other room with a little bag in his hand. Hiccup raised her brow, rude much. The old woman smiled at her before walking away.

"Here, ten gold pieces, for the delivery," the chief said as he pushed the bag into her hands.

"Thank you," Hiccup said, doing much effort not to let it sound sarcastic. The sooner she got out of here the better, these people weren't exactly friendly to strangers.

* * *

  

She took a little tour through the town, but she didn't get to see much friendly faces. She wanted to enter some houses because the sign said they sold stuff but the people inside made it clear they didn't want anything to do with her just by looking at her. All shops went like that, except for one. A shop with jewelry. Now Hiccup wasn't really of the rings and necklaces, but she wanted to look anyway. And the shop owner didn't look at her with disgust. They did have some pretty gemstones attached to cords. Maybe she could attach them to her bag or Toothless' saddle. That would look pretty. Or perhaps she could take some for the people in Berk, though she wasn't sure if Astrid would appreciate it when Hiccup gave her jewels. She always got pretty mad at Snotlout for that.

They weren't very expensive either so Hiccup looked which color stone suited Toothless the best. Red looked good on a Night Fury, and so did silver, lime and lavender. She took all three. Because why not? She also took a sky-blue one, for Astrid. Girls could give each other jewels, right? Hiccup wasn't Snotlout, so that was a plus, but still... Well, if Astrid didn't like the gemstone she could always give it to Fishlegs. Ruffnut and Tuffnut liked shining things too, she remembered. She laughed a bit as she remembered Snotlout actually did too. Once they had almost been eaten by a flock of wild, angry Smothering Smokebreaths because Snotlout didn't want to give up his 'Shiny', some stupid golden necklace.  

But anyway, the sale of the gemstones went well, until the creepy, little man who wanted to buy Toothless, was back. She heard him when he walked in with his uneven step and the thudding of his cane, slowly approaching her. He cleared his throat and Hiccup glared at him.

"Don't worry, my lady, I know when I'm beat. I just want to buy me one of those wonderful necklaces they sell here." He grabbed the fuchsia necklace and handed it over to the seller to buy it. What a coincidence, Hiccup thought, her mind being the only place where she could be sarcastic as much as she wanted.

"Three silver coins," the seller said slowly, he had such a monotone, boring voice but with a creepy edge of coldness. Weird how people in such a hot climate, could be so cold. They probably weren't used to strangers poking around, because who would be crazy enough to cross this desert?

"Oh, but look here. All I got is a gold coin. A man of means like myself." He chuckled and Hiccup hated him even more. "I don't suppose you could change that."

The man looked at the gold coin and shook his head. The little man then turned to her and gave her a creepy smile with crooked teeth. "I don't suppose you can?" he asked.

Hiccup looked at the gold coin, weighing in her hand, feeling if it was real. She reached for a little bag in one of her pockets that served as a wallet. She gave the man ten silver coins back. He gave three to the seller and took the necklace. She didn't know what he was planning to do with it, the color fitted horribly by his whole appearance.

"Such a pretty necklace, I'm very happy with it," he said, then he laughed mysteriously and left.

People in the south were crazy. She pressed her lips to a thin line disapprovingly, then she shrugged and took the necklaces before going outside into the heat again. Best was to walk in the shadows. She heard a low growl coming from Toothless and the fast thudding of a cane moving away. She gave Toothless a glance and saw he was fine, just a bit wary of the man. She beckoned him to follow her.

"See, Toothless," Hiccup said as they walked back, "we have done the delivery and we've gone shopping. Now we can go home."

Toothless purred happily. She had send a letter back to her father about the succeeded delivery through Terror Mail. Terrible Terrors were little dragons, they could be trained to bring mail from one place to another. The Terror wouldn't go through the desert but around (as the dragon really wasn't  _that_  stupid) so it would take longer for the mail to reach port Akoaron and Stoick. But that didn't matter much.

The doors of the saloon next to them opened and two men came stumbling out. "Come on now!" one of them said. "Hey!" the other said as she saw Hiccup. "How you doin' there, partner?"

"Hello," Hiccup said, moving back fast as he almost fell onto her.

"How 'bout a drink?" the second man slurred.

"No," Hiccup said resolutely.

"Oh come on! It's a beautiful night! Beautiful bottle!" the first said, they both came closer to Hiccup.

"I'm feeling generous," the second said, holding the bottle up before her eyes.

"No," Hiccup said again, and she tried to squirm past them. But they pushed her back. Toothless growled, but not only at the two drunk men. He knew they were drunk, they had dealt with drunk men before. Drunk men often came after his human, they called her 'pretty' and 'hot' or whatever. She could easily push them off her. No. He was mostly growling at the mysterious,  _sober_  man who was approaching them. He wasn't just going to pass them, he was walking straight at his human.

"Argh, you're no fun at all!" the first man said.

"I must go," Hiccup said, and she walked past them. The men didn't stop her. "All right," they said and they went back inside the saloon. So weird. As she said, people in the south were crazy.

Hiccup kept staring at the two men as they disappeared into the saloon, not noticing the mysterious man who bumped against her. "Sorry, excuse me, my fault," the man said. In a flash Hiccup saw dark brown eyes and a long, thin scar tracing his left cheek.

He walked away again and Hiccup sighed. This town was weird. She looked up at the sky, and heard Toothless growl next to her. "What is it, boy?" she asked, she kept her gaze pointed at the sky. She heard Toothless shake his head and growl.

"A few more hours and it's somewhat past midnight, then we'll leave."

Toothless made a friendly, soft growl and stretched his front paws like a cat, then his hind legs. Hiccup smiled at him.

"We did well, bud. My dad said we get to keep at least three golden coins because we did all the work. With the money we earned from this I can finally buy the strong, thin material I wanted to buy for your –" she stopped abruptly with both talking and walking. Her hand was in her pocket, but there was no bag. She checked all her pockets, her bags and Toothless saddlebags. It was gone. The money was gone.

* * *

   

It was a few minutes before midnight, Hiccup sat against the wall of a house with Toothless sitting next to her, purring and softly nuzzling her arm. This was a disaster. They had looked through the whole village, but nothing. The money was gone. Someone had stolen it. She knew who and she knew why. So it wasn't much of a surprise when the creepy, little man turned up again. She had the feeling that her luck had run out and she was in a slump.

The little man was with someone this time. The other man was larger and wore a hat. Hiccup looked at him, her breath hitched for a moment. The man had dark brown eyes and a long, thin scar on his left cheek. He had bumped against her, he had stolen her money. Sneaky little pick-pocket. It confirmed her suspicions. Toothless growled as the two approached, baring his teeth.

"What's the matter, huh? Your luck take a turn?" the creepy man asked.

Hiccup looked up slowly. God, she hated that man. The smug look on his face, the way his eyes told her that he knew exactly what happened. "You know what happened."

The man became a bit angry, if Hiccup didn't know better she would have thought he was actually angry. But it was all for show, it was all fake. "You accuse me of something you can't prove, I can have you thrown in jail, is that what you want?"

"No," Hiccup said calmly, "I want my money back."

"Well that's a problem. 'Cause you have already finished the job. But you do have that dragon, now, don't you? I said I'd pay top dollar for a dragon like that one."

Hiccup took a slow breath. "I think you would take my soul if you could."

The creepy man chuckled. "Devil can have your soul. I just want your dragon."

Everyone got a breaking point with anger. With some people the breaking point was hard to find, one could insult them as much as one wanted, they didn't get angry, it bounced off them. With those people you had to either keep pushing, or find that little thing that set them off. Gobber called those people Try-Outs. Everyone on Berk agreed he wasn't the best with names. He called them Try-Outs because one literally had to try out what set them off if one wanted them angry. For example one could hate on them, but if one even called their friend dumb they would attack that person.

You also have Builders, or that's what Gobber called them. They pushed their anger down every single time. They were affected by the insults, but they didn't show it, it didn't bounce off them as it did with the Try-Outs, they absorbed it. And there always came a moment they exploded like a volcano with too much pressure.

Hiccup was a Builder  _and_  a Try-Out. Now there was too much pressure inside her now as he had found what made her angry, and he had found her pressure point, taking Toothless away from her, so she snapped. She jolted up and stood right before the man, her finger accusingly pointing at him.

"Listen to me very closely now, you monster. I don't want your stupid blood money, and you're never EVER, getting my dragon, you hear me?! He's not just some pet you can buy, he's my friend, my partner, he is my bonded and my blood!"

Toothless jumped up too and growled at the man, his pupils slits and his fangs bared. The man moved back, spooked from the sudden outburst. "Now give me back my money! I know you stole it, Toothless recognizes your scent…" it was meant for the man with the hat and the scar. He looked afraid of the Night Fury. But then again, how could one not?

Toothless was making himself big, his ears perked up in the air, his body raised, his head up and his teeth bared. He opened his mouth, gas building inside the back of his throat and a purple glow lighting up.

"Let's get out of here!" the man with the scar said and he ran away. The man with the cane hesitated, but this time Hiccup did let Toothless fire a warning shot before the man's feet. It was all he needed to run away like the devil was chasing him.

"And don't let me ever see you again!" Hiccup yelled after the men.

Toothless wanted to go after them but Hiccup stopped him by holding her hand out. Toothless sat down on his haunches and looked at her questioningly. Why couldn't he go after them? They still had her money! They had to give it back, it wasn't theirs. He'd gladly blow them away or attack them with his talons or his teeth. He hummed at her and then jerked his head to the running men, who were disappearing out of view.

"No need," Hiccup said, and she held something up. Toothless smiled at her, it was her purse! He should have known his human was smart like that. She had pick-pocketed him and now they had back what was theirs. He hoped those nasty men would never return. He shook his head, his ears flapping around, and looked up at the sky. It was about time to leave. It was dark and they couldn't wait for too long.

Hiccup put the little bag back in his saddlebags and took another look at his tailfin, just to check if it was still securely strapped to his tail. She pulled some ropes a little and flared out the tailfin with her hands. It looked fine. Toothless turned his head to look at what she was doing. She took another look at the pulleys before she knew for sure there was no danger in flying and she hopped onto his back. Toothless purred and walked a little further away from the village, stretching his wings out as he waited for the sign to take off.

The latest iteration of Toothless' tail, tail Red III, was an evolution of all the past tails. It featured a much more complex gear system. Unlike the older tails, this tail had two 'pedals', one on its right which controls the vertical angle of the tail, allowing for greater control to do things such as barrel rolls and tighter turns, and a 'sliding' pedal on its left controlled by Hiccup's prosthetic controlling the outward (horizontal) extension of the tail. This duel controlled tail allowed her to more precisely control the tail to allow for more precise movements. Which could come in really handy.

Hiccup pressed her foot down in the pedal, her heal pushed back and the nose of her shoe up a bit. The tail flared out and Toothless beat his wings down, climbing up into the air. The moon was shining down on them, hanging like a hunter high overhead. The black dragon was playing peek-a-boo, weaving in and out of the moonlight beams that were cast down. There were no clouds it could hide in, but the dragon didn't need those to disappear. Its dark scales helped him camouflage. The only sign it was there being the suddenly blotted out stars and the black silhouette against the velvet night sky.

Back into the desert.

 

   


	4. Live and Let Fly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back into the desert. The monster says hello.   
> And he's not alone.

Hiccup breathed in the dry, hot air yet again. The dust and sand making her mouth even drier while it was also tickling her nose in a very annoying manner. Despite the warnings everyone had given her, and the not so good sounding story of the old woman, she still went back into that Godforsaken place. The Wrurora desert.

They were flying above the river as they had done before, under the cover of the cool night, the stars guarding over them. They both felt more comfortable in the dark, Toothless was no more than a shadow, blotting out stars, almost invisible. And now they had the red tail, giving them more confidence for if they would have to get away fast again.

She was really in for a win now. It seemed like multiple things were going bad lately. Not just this delivery. The creepy man, Ragnar, Agnos. It was a rough time. Things really went either bad or good. Bad as in war and good as in multiple years of peace. There was no in-between. Either she was constantly in battle or not at all.

She sighed as she leaned back a bit in the saddle, her thoughts automatically going back to that huge wolf. That thing was a threat to everyone coming close to it. She wondered how that dude even got him. They were supposed to stay on Alfheim, where they liked to experiment on animals. He wasn’t supposed to get his hands on an animal like that. Probably the Black Market though, maybe the Northern Markets or something else. Either way, it had to be illegal.

Then there was the next thing, how did he get that wolf here in the first place? Hiccup smiled as she thought about that. The people of Asgard, the Aesir, were really entitled. Yeah, they were Gods and were mighty and powerful and Hiccup had _so_ many respect for them, but they were entitled. They thought themselves better than others. So what if they lived about 5000 years? People of Ljósfold could get around that age too, and so did many other people on Realms. Maybe not Midgard, the humans were kinda fragile there, but still.

The Aesir thought they were the only one who could travel between Realms, _puh_ , they wish. Did they really think they were the only ones who could do such a thing? _Please_. There were about a hundred hidden portals on each planet, through which one could get from one planet to the other. Hiccup was proud to say she didn’t know a single one!

The Aesir were the only one with the Bifrost, that was true, but the Bifrost wasn’t the only means of transport that existed. It was the fastest and most reliable, yes, but not the only one. With the right Dark Spells one could get anywhere. So that man must have used one of the more dark and secret ways of traveling.

Hiccup pressed her foot down in the stirrup and they made a lazy turn to follow the flow of the river. The water was dark and glistening under the moonlight. As she looked up she saw the moon began to slowly dip down to the earth. It wouldn’t be long before morning would come. She hoped to be out of the desert by then, and she hoped to have seen whatever was chasing them by then.

Toothless’ ears perked up, a low, rumbling sound coming from his chest followed. Hiccup sat up in the saddle, snapping from her thoughts about Gods and portals.

“What is it, bud?” Hiccup whispered, as if she was worried someone else might hear her, even though there was no one out there.

The dragon narrowed his eyes and moved his head from side to side. His ears perked up in all directions. The dragon let out an echolocation roar into the night. Hiccup didn’t expect to hear something back, but it happened. A different roar spun up back to them, from dead ahead. She didn’t recognize it, it wasn’t from a dragon known to her. It was a screech a bit like a Skrill, but deeper and more vibrant. Hiccup clenched her hands around the saddle and pressed herself closer to Toothless’ body.

She squinted her eyes and tried to see in the dark, but she saw nothing. She heard a second roar, it made her skin crawl. That was no dragon, nor could it be a Ljósfoldian. It was an animal, but unlike anything she had heard before. “Toothless, plasmablast. Just to light it up,” she said.

A purple blast was fired into the dark and Hiccup stared directly at it, following it with her eyes. The blast of plasma exploded and lighted the area for a few seconds, and in those seconds she saw something, a black shadow. Maybe like a Night Fury!

She heard a third roar coming to her, so high and loud that it made her cringe. Her eyes widened. Okay never mind, that was definitely no Night Fury. The long roar seemed to get closer. Toothless’ ears perked up and his eyes became big too, he let out a worried grumble and slowed his pace. Again he spew out a blast of plasma, just light, no damage.

The silhouette got closer. Flying directly at them.

 “Toothless, sky!” Hiccup called out. She pressed her foot down in the pedal, her heel down and the nose of her shoe pointing upwards. The Night Fury snorted and fastened the beating of his wings, he pulled up and they wheeled upwards into the sky in a straight line.

A roar crossed them underneath, flying at the place they had been a second ago. It was like it had had the intention to crash into them. Hiccup glanced down at the river but saw nothing in the dark. She felt the air get a little colder as they got higher. There were no clouds to hide in so that was just great. Clouds weren’t only convenient to hide in, their dampness also masked scents.

An angry roar followed them up, and judging to the sound, whatever it was, it was big. Big black silhouettes with loud roars could never be good. Something big was following her, which was scary. But it was even scarier that she couldn’t see _what_ was following her.

“Come on buddy, come on Toothless!” Hiccup encouraged her partner. Toothless let out a roar and pounded into the air. She pressed herself close to his back, as if they wished to become one. She almost couldn’t tell if they even came higher, there were no clouds to tell them and everything beneath them was covered in darkness. A portal would have come in handy in a situation like this.

She pushed her heel back in the pedal, the nose of her shoe pointing up just a bit. The tailfin flared out. Toothless made a low, rumbling sound and switched from gaining altitude to gaining terrain. A new roar came behind them, but it was lower and further behind, and Hiccup could breathe again. That thing would never be able to catch up with a Night Fury, they were simply too fast.

Hiccup tended to ride with her whole body close to Toothless’, leaning forward against him, sometimes almost lying down on her stomach on top of him. She and Toothless were one flier, moving together; because of the tail, they had to be, but it was also a big part of their bond. The position Hiccup chose also emphasized speed, which they both loved. She heard the wind whistle along her ears and she knew that thing wouldn’t be able to catch up. They were too fast.

But she had spoken too soon. She let out a spooked scream when something crashed into them from the side, almost knocking Hiccup off her saddle. Toothless roared and beat his wings irregularly, pounding left then right and so on, trying to retrieve his pace and to keep the human safely on his back at the same time. Hiccup pulled herself back onto the saddle, her ankle hurt a bit because it had stayed hooked into the stirrup even when she fell. It had helped her stay attached to Toothless but her leg did _not_ appreciate it.  

They hovered in the air, staying at the same spot, looking around. Something roared at their side and the dragon didn’t hesitate. He swallowed a deep gulp of air, his gut churning in a broil of heat. This wasn’t just light, this was fire, and this was power. His ears perked up and he moved them around, trying to catch even the littlest of sounds of their enemy. The heat moved up to his throat and he unlocked his jaw to shoot the blast of plasma.

The plasmablast exploded fairly quickly, so it had hit something. A roar made its way down fast, as if the thing was falling, but Hiccup didn’t care at the moment. She pushed her heel down again, Toothless made a turn and they continued their way home, fast.

They heard the roar coming back up again. Toothless pounded his wings in the air even harder than before. He turned his head towards the heavens so they would go up higher. Hiccup took a glance over her shoulder, seeing a black silhouette following their leap upwards without hesitation. Whatever it was, it was definitely after them.

Hiccup deeply inhaled, and slowly exhaled. This was it, this was the chase. She turned her full attention to Toothless and to their flight. They would outfly their follower, easily. Toothless was a Night Fury, the fastest of all dragons. There was no other dragon that could match him in speed, except maybe on land, Speed Stingers could outrun him as they were the fastest running dragons, but none could match him in the sky.

She pressed her heel down in the pedal, the nose of her shoe pointing upwards again so the tail flared out, tilted up a bit. Toothless beat his wings fierce and they shot up in the air once again. The roar of the silhouette followed them, threatening.

When they thought they were high enough, Hiccup pressed the pedal and the fin folded in. For a second they hung still in the air, then Toothless changed direction such that he was vertical to the ground and gave a mighty stroke of his wings before they dived down. He folded his wings to create a streamlined, aerodynamic shape while he dived from the sky, helping him to achieve greater speed when he accelerated downwards. 

Hiccup pressed her chest against the dragon’s back and spine, bending over to his ear to whisper encouragements to make him fly faster, to gain more speed. Her knuckles were white from clenching the saddle. She made sure she was safely hooked to the saddle before giving Toothless the sign for free-flying.

The dragon’s heart made a leap at that, free-flying was when Hiccup gave him all the control and the consent for him to fly as fast as he wanted. He shook his head a bit and moved his tail, making himself ready for the speed that was coming.

He tensed all the muscles in his wings and body, he narrowed his eyes and pulled his paws up for a more streamlined form. He let his primal instinct take over his body, a haze blurred his sight and he let out a roar before he started his maybe even fastest flight ever.

The dragon pounded his wings in the air, up and down so fast all the human on his back saw was a black blur. He stretched out his neck and let his whole body move along the beats of his wings. Flying was all the dragon could think of, flying was all he wanted. Adrenaline took over, giving him a sudden rush of energy. He could feel it flow to his wings and he beat them ever harder. Every last bit of his body, every muscle, every tendon, sinew and nerve, wanted to fly. Fly like he had never flown before. They dove deep, skimming so low to the earth Hiccup and Toothless were assaulted by a spray of loose sand before hurtling back into the sky.

He stayed on one line, his instincts taking over and beating his wings so fast he almost didn’t feel them anymore. No way was he going to slow his pace down now. If he slowed down, if only a bit, his wings would get tired, he would feel them ache, and more important, he would lose speed. So no matter if he flew up or dived down, he kept beating his wings. All he cared about now was flying, flying to bring himself and his partner to safety. Safety was all that mattered.

The wind rushed along them, whistling in their ears. A high-pitched whizzing sound spread through the air and Hiccup almost expected to hear someone screaming: ‘Night Fury! Get down!’ But the desert was deserted, so there was no screaming.

“Come on, buddy. Let’s show those stalkers what speed means,” Hiccup whispered in the dragon’s ear, even though she had never seen or felt him go this fast. The dragon hummed in agreement and she could feel his muscles tense even more. Hiccup closed her eyes and let the dragon do what he knew best, to fly.

She felt him leap up into the air again, his wings beating hard as ever, moving along with his movements to not make it harder for him. They climbed into the air, not as parallel as before, but still pretty straight up. She was glad she was wearing a helmet, or the wind would have blown her face off. 

Then he dived down again, they went full-on dive-bombing. Toothless didn’t press his wings against his side as usually by dive-bombing, he kept beating them up and down. Hiccup almost felt dizzy in the speed, she tried listening to their stalker, but the wind was too loud, and the adrenaline rushing through her veins made it difficult to concentrate.

She had almost forgotten how fast, ‘the fastest dragon’ was. They always had been able to easily catch up with other dragon species, but this was faster than just ‘catching up’. This was racing at the highest speed possible. She felt a tingle through her body, a blasting sound and she knew they had broken the sound barrier in their diving. She smiled in herself, their stalker would never be able to fly that fast.

As they almost hit the ground, she pressed the pedal and Toothless pulled up. Sand flew up, whirled around them and raised into the sky with them for a moment, before falling down again by gravity. Toothless shot into the air like an arrow from a bow. Hiccup saw the sky was a bit less dark, she looked at her side and saw something that would might help them out a bit.

The sun rose like a flower opening, gifting its petals unto the world. Mellow blues and pinks blurred together in a silver mist to create another gorgeous scene. Even when the world was drowning in grief and hardship, the sky remained beautiful. That was the one thing that had kept Hiccup’s hopes up—if the sky remained vivid and powerful, then so could she.

With the sun lighting up the area, she risked another glance over her shoulder, her hands clenching the handles of the saddle, preventing her from falling off. There was nothing. There was nothing flying behind her. Not left, not right, not above or under. They had out-flown it!

Hiccup exulted in the rush of wind along her body and the smooth, powerful wing beating of her dragon. This was flying, she thought, and she urged Toothless on to even greater speed, to make the distance even greater. After a few more seconds, she turned in the saddle to look back.

There was still nothing behind her. She leaned forward over Toothless’ neck.

“Come on, boy! We’ve got a point to make.”

Toothless’ ears went back and he tossed his head in delight. He loved to fly. In fact, he lived to fly. Flying like no dragon had ever flown was in his bloodline for generation after generation. He was made for speed. In flight, the Night Fury's wingspan was unrivaled, bearing approximately 45 feet. This allowed him to fly faster, longer and further than any of the other dragon species. He lengthened his beats and accelerated.

Then Hiccup realized something, they had been flying like this for a long time. She blinked a few times and looked at the dragon underneath her, her best friend, her partner. His flanks were streaked with foam and his sides were heaving like bellows as he dragged in huge lungfuls of air. She became aware that he was grunting loudly with each breath and instantly she was overcome with remorse.

She pulled the handles of the saddle a bit, a sign to slow down, although he resisted her efforts initially. He was willing to plunge on until he dropped from exhaustion. This wasn’t right, she wasn’t supposed to exhaust him like this. She pressed her foot down in the pedal and the tailfin flared out, checking his mindless instinct to keep flying, speaking softly to him.

“It’s okay buddy, it’s okay. It’s gone now, you can slow down.”

The dragon tilted his head and looked at her with one eye, as if he was asking her if she was sure. She laid her hand down on his head and said she was sure. Toothless grumbled before allowing it, he slowed down the beating of his wings until he didn’t beat them at all. They were still flying fast, but without the pounding of the wings most of the speed was lost.

“You did well, bud. You did perfect.”

Toothless let out a low rumble, he could have continued the pace for much longer. This was nothing. He wasn’t tired at all. He could go way faster than this!

Hiccup scratched him soothingly behind his ear, he didn’t have to. He didn’t have to give every last bit he had. The danger was gone. They were fine. All was fine. They had no reason to find out what their top speed exactly was. Especially not in this climate, and not with a long way ahead.

She opened her saddlebag and took a square of old blanket from her pack, rubbing him down and speaking softly to him. The dragon purred a bit, but his eyes were still narrowed and his pupils slits. The adrenaline was still rushing through the both of them, she knew. He was still on edge.

After rubbing him down, she put the blanket back in the saddlebag and looked up. Her eyes widened and a scream formed in the back of her throat.

“Toothless look out!”

The dragon raised his head, just in time to see a big, black thing fly over his head and knock his human out of her saddle.

She let out a second scream, this one without words when the first shock of falling hit her. She knew she had to pull herself together and try to get back onto Toothless instead of dumbly screaming. She was falling chest down, unable to see what was happening behind her. Okay Hiccup, she thought. Angle yourself, get onto you back and keep your hands free.

She turned mid-air but let out another scream as soon as soon as she was falling with her back towards the ground. A sharp pain lanced through her side and colorful spots flashed in front of her eyes. Searing, fiery bursts pulsated in her side just above the hip. She felt something grab her, crash into her while she was still in the air. She looked up from her side right into what looked like a mouth with thousand, yellow, sharp, pointy… teeth.

Hiccup kicked and hit whatever was on top of her, knocking it off her chest and back into the air.

“Toothless!” she yelled. Tears began to form in her eyes. A familiar roar came closer and she saw her dragon dive closer at a fast pace. They circled around each other one time to angle themselves before Hiccup pulled her hands away from her side to grab the handles. She pulled herself into the saddle and pushed her heel down in the pedal.

The Night Fury threw out his wings and with a sharp turn, they shot back up in the sky. Hiccup looked at her side, her suit was partially torn apart at the side and she saw a red spot expand fast. She groaned and clutched her side with one hand.

The dragon sniffed… and smelled blood. It alarmed him immediately and he let out a worried wail.

“I’m fine,” Hiccup said, pushing her jaws down on each other. She felt the muscles quiver and the blood seep through her fingers.

A blood-curdling roar made them spook up. Time to go! Toothless shot away from his awkward wing-flapping like an arrow from a bow, going from an easy fly to full racing in the space of a few meters. He had accelerated so quickly that she was nearly left behind. But he sensed her momentary loss of balance and slowed, allowing her to regain her seat. Then he was off again, neck stretched out, wings reaching in great, bounding beats.

Hiccup glanced over her shoulder. And she saw something. A big, black thing, was following her. It didn’t have any wings and it was big. As she looked better, she saw it was only partially black. It also had some sort of vague, yellow-reddish stripes. There was definitely magic involved, she was sure. Big black thing, magic, enormous mouth with thousands of teeth… Hiccup felt her insides freeze. That thing had jumped straight out of her nightmares. When she squinted her eyes she saw it also had big eyes, but not normal eyes. Really wide, white eyes. She tucked herself in Toothless’ neck, ignoring the pain in her side, whispering encouraging in his ear, urging him to go faster again.

Toothless was racing again, beating his wings and shooting plasma blasts behind him. Only there were two problems, he couldn’t properly aim because he had to mainly focus at flying fast, and he had used all of his energy just yet. Not even a few minutes ago he had flown faster than the speed of sound, then he had taken a break in which he began to truly feel how tired his wings were.

Picking up that pace again was hard, but not impossible. He was trying it, for his friend. She was hurt, he knew it; he could literally smell it. The smell of blood. The blood which was leaving her body.

She had pressed a cloth against it, but she was dangerously swaying, and Toothless knew his human would probably give up earlier than he would. He let out another roar, to shake his human a bit and make her stay awake. They couldn’t give up, not now. They were going to fight this.

He made a sharp turn to the right, changing directions up a bit to maybe shake their stalker off. He didn’t exactly count on it, but he had to try. He knew it was bad, the thing that followed them. It was pure evil. But luckily, it was alone.

A frightened yell from his rider made his stomach turn. He had spoken too soon.

Hiccup’s hand reached for the weapon strapped to her thigh. She grabbed it and held it before her. It wasn’t a normal weapon. It was the Dragon Blade, also known as Inferno. It was a retractable sword that served as her main weapon. The sword had several features, most notably the ability to become inflamed.

She lighted it up and swung it before her. The second monster was spooked off by the fire for a second, but it catched up again and lashed out with its long claws at the sword. The only thing that happened was the monster getting his claw burned, and then cut off as Hiccup yanked it up. The monster opened its mouth and showed his giant row of sharp teeth. A big, forked tongue laid inside the mouth, as a vicious predator, waiting for the right moment to attack, Hiccup felt her stomach turn by the sight of it. And even scarier was how fast its hand or claw thing regrew.

She lashed out with Inferno at the head. But it was smart, it understood now that the weapon was bad, and it moved away every time she tried. She moved the sword from her right to her left in one, smooth movement, trying to reach out far enough to cut its head off.

But it jerked back, then it dug his claws in her hand as the sword had just passed his head. Hiccup screamed again as the long nails dug deeply into the weak flesh of her right hand. Then, with the nails still in her wrist, it withdrew his claw, dragging the razors back across the back of her hand until her knuckles, even scraping the bones of her hand.

The pain was monstrous. The pain wasn't sharp like a needle point or a knife, it burned around her hand better than boiling water. Everything felt scolded and, moving or not, she was in more pain than she could have ever imagined was possible. So she screamed.

Then there was also the pain in her side. It seared through her abdomen better than a branding iron. She had almost dropped the sword, but managed to grab it with her left hand and put it away again. As if they didn’t have enough problems yet. Toothless was letting out frightened roars and whines, he had heard her scream and he smelled the blood. This wasn’t good, this wasn’t good.  

The two monsters joined and flew after her, their long limbs swaying back and forth. They seemed to be ‘walking’ on air, like a Pegasus. But they were black with steaks of yellow and red, had a gigantic mouth filled with pointy teeth, big white eyes and at their hands they had claws longer than from any animal ever seen.

Their body shape looked like that from a human. They had a torso with four limbs, two arms and two legs (which were longer and thinner than the limbs from humans), they had shoulders and a neck. But the head wasn’t human at all. It was as if you took the head from a human, removed the hair, ears, nose, mouth, eyes and everything until you had just a ball-like shape. And then put a huge mouth and two huge eyes on it.

“Toothless,” Hiccup started. Her voice was weird, as if she had a lump in her throat. “I don’t think we’re getting out of here.”

The dragon’s eyes became big, the pupils became slits so thin it was almost like a clean knife-cut. He whined and threw up his head. Hiccup swallowed thickly. She couldn’t wheel a weapon, she couldn’t hold those things off. Toothless would run out of plasma blasts faster than the monsters would take off. Not to mention they didn’t have the time because she was bleeding out, dizzy, and getting short of breath.

Hiccup breathed out, turning her full attention to Toothless and their flight. They would outfly the monsters, she didn’t need to watch him do it. He was a Night Fury, no dragon could match him in the sky. No dragon had his speed. The Night Fury was built for speed, every cell in his body had been designed to make him faster. No dragon she had ever heard of could catch him.

She trusted completely, the adrenaline keeping her awake as she kept up beat for beat with the dragon. Adjusting fractionally with every twist, tilt and turn.

She breathed in deeply again and furrowed her brows… salt? Salty air. The sea? Hiccup looked before her and somewhere in the far, far distance there was a pen stripe thin line of blue. The sea!

“There is the ocean! Come on, bud, perhaps we _are_ gonna make it!”

Toothless used all his energy for some more mighty beats, flying straight up into the air. Those monsters were not very good at flying up, she hoped. It was a thing with the altitude. She glanced over her shoulder. A huge relief spread through her body. One of the monsters took off as they made their way up into the sky.

But as always, they spoke too soon.

Toothless lost balance. He flapped but they were swaying, unsteady. She heard a tearing sound behind her, afraid she looked at what was causing it. She saw a monster tear through the prosthetic tailfin with its huge claws, destroying it.

“Get off!” Hiccup yelled. She grabbed blindly with her right hand in her saddlebag until she found something heavy. A cup. She threw it at the monster and hit it right at its head. It stopped destroying the tail for a moment, and growled angrily.

Toothless swayed dangerously and changed from flying upwards to flying towards the ocean. “Come on Toothless! Come on buddy just a little longer!”

Toothless stiffened is body, hoping he could last a little longer without the tailfin. The monster was done ripping the fake tail apart, he extended his claws and aimed for the real fin. Hiccup grabbed Inferno again, holding her right hand uselessly against her chest. But she didn’t grab it for the sword. At the other side, in the hilt of the sword, was a canister of Zippleback gas. Highly explosive gas. She presses a button, the gas was released through the pommel right at the monster at Toothless’ tail.

The monster looked up at the gas, not knowing sure what it was. It clawed at it and hissed. Hiccup created a spark and the gas immediately exploded on the monster. The force pushed Toothless out of balance for a few seconds but he recovered. “Just a little longer!” Hiccup encouraged him. The ocean was closing in, just a little longer!

Toothless spit out another blast of plasma at the monsters behind him and kept beating his wings down, his heart pumping hard and almost painfully fast. They had to stay steady, because weird movements would make the tailfin move up or down, which it couldn’t take because that thing had ripped it apart. The endless valley of sand turned into rock and even a bit of grass. The faint scent of salt became stronger.

They flew over rocks, over sand, then over the coastline. Toothless banked and they flew at some sea stacks. The tail almost failed again but they held on. Almost there, almost there, almost there. They were flying right towards a high sea stack, a natural tower of solid rock. Okay, time to change directions. Hiccup pressed the pedal but nothing happened. She pressed again. She moved her foot around in the stirrup but nothing happened. She looked back at the tail and saw it was tucked in, refusing to move. Tatters of cloth fluttered in the wind.

Toothless beat his wings to the side, trying to move out of the sea stack’s direction but they were too late. Toothless could pull up his head and chest to reduce impact but they still crashed against the rock and fell down. Any moment from them Hiccup expected to be engulfed in cold, salty sea water. But they weren’t. There was no water.

Only the hard surface of wooden planks. They crashed onto the surface, Hiccup was thrown off the saddle and fell down too, though less hard than her dragon. Hiccup groaned as she rolled onto her back, her right hand was numb and her side was burning. Not to mention her good foot that had been twisted while she almost had been knocked from her saddle when it had crashed against her. She looked at the sky. By the all-powerful Odin and Thor please let me survive this, Hiccup thought. Please let us survive this.

A shadow moved across her face, blocking the light of the upcoming sun. It was a broad, big person and Hiccup hoped it was Stoick or Gobber. That would be so great. She needed this luck, after all the bad luck that had happened she needed a win. But it was neither of them.

“Well hello there, what a pleasant surprise to see you come dropping in like this. I’ve always wanted to meet you face to face, Dragon Conqueror.”

Her stomach dropped and she almost wished she’d die right there, right that moment.

She looked right into the face of Ragnar.

 

 


	5. Pleased to Meet You. I Will Now Crush Your Windpipe

She squared her shoulders when Agnor opened the door and did her best not to trip when she was pushed inside. She glanced behind her to glare at the large Hunter but Agnor had already turned around and was shutting the door behind him. She cringed a bit at the loud sound and wondered if she could break through it later.

“Please, excuse my brother,” Ragnar spoke up. Hiccup whirled around too fast for her body to agree as soon as he spoke. She had almost forgotten he was inside too. Ragnar was sitting at what may have been a desk, but it was set for two and the man was staring intently at some books and papers as if studying something. “He does not see what I see nor understand why I’m allowing you to live, or why I am helping you survive those awful wounds.”

“To be fair, I still have trouble understanding that too,” Hiccup answered. Her gaze darted through the room, going from Ragnar to the small table, to the walls around them on which weapons were on display, back to the door behind her. She wondered if she could just try to run or that Agnor was guarding the other side of the door.

Her good hand went up to her side where bandage was sealing the wound those monsters had made. Around her right hand was bandage too. It was her curiosity of why he was helping her like this that got the better of her as she carefully eyed Ragnar. He was calm as ever, just reading whatever books he had in front of him, and occasionally writing something down. They hadn't exchanged many words before. She had burned down his village when they had planned an attack on Berk, and she had once spoken a few words with him as he was mocking her about capturing her but she later escaped anyway. Not much more. 

Now they were together in the room, just the two of them and not being in the middle of a fight, Hiccup realized this might be her only chance to properly talk with him. She maybe wouldn't get a chance like this again. This was her chance to sit down with him and try to convince him to stop the dragon trading, the dragon hunting and all the bad things he was doing. Maybe she could finally show him dragons were worth more than just for their skin or teeth. This might be her chance to right the wrongs.

Slowly and cautiously, as if he was going to attack her any moment, she approached the table and glanced at the maps and books. Things about dragons, trading posts and on one was a picture of some sort of square, long box with scribbles around it. She didn't recognize that last picture, but she tried to memorize the other- oh he flipped the page. Disappointing. 

“Why am I still alive?”

Ragnar only hummed and flipped another page of a book. He then sat back and gestured for Hiccup to sit down, she kept standing.

“One does not just throw away something of value, does he?” the man asked as he weaved his fingers together and watched Hiccup.

The youth frowned, value? Her? She hoped he didn't mean 'have value to him' because that didn’t make any sense. She and Toothless were a deadly team, faster than any dragon in the air and smarter than most people. They worked for no one, they protected their home because it was their home and people lived there they cared about, but she didn’t work for them. All the attacks on Ragnar’s ships were _her_ idea, not because she ‘worked’ for someone.

“Uh-huh, and what exactly makes me something one does not just throw away? Is it because I ride a Night Fury. Or perhaps because I can befriend dragons?”

Ragnar took a moment to study the maps and books before him. He lifted his pencil and wrote something down in the sideline of a page. Hiccup couldn't read what. “I must admit, my dear Hiccup, that I am impressed by those capabilities. I will always wonder how you managed to succeed in that.”

“Try not slaughtering dragons. But thank you,” Hiccup said, not quite sure what else to say. She doubted whether or not it was a compliment. Though he hadn’t answered her question, he had said he was impressed but he didn’t say why she had value.

Ragnar turned another page and tapped his fingers on the writing. It was long and scribbly, Hiccup still couldn’t read it. Maybe because she had trouble upside down but she doubted those scribbles were Norse. There was a time they spoke only Norse where Hiccup came from, but slowly Standard started to take over. It was way more convenient if they all spoke the same language, for trade, for peace treaties, for about everything.

“You must wonder why, so I must ask, were you born with the capability or did you learn Dragonese?”

The youth stared at him without blinking. Then slowly, she raised an eyebrow. Dragonese was the language that the dragons spoke, or so people said. And she was NOT capable of speaking the dragon language. Mainly because it didn't exist. 

In a second flat she decided _not_ to tell him she in fact had _no_ _idea_ how to speak Dragonese, not even in the slightest. It was like asking if someone could understand the barking of a dog, or the mewling of a cat.

She talked to Toothless as she would talk to a normal human being. And all he could say back were growls, hums, snorts, purrs and moans. From which she could _understand_ exactly none. She listened to the tone of his sounds, and she looked at his facial expression, that’s how she understood him. After many, many years of spending together she just felt what he wanted. But not because she actually knew he was saying ‘I want fish’ ‘Can we go for a ride?’ or ‘I smell danger’. It was all about context.

Getting enough of having to stand, she slowly turned to the chair on the opposite side of Ragnar and sat down on the tip of it. “How about you hunting dragons? How long has that been going on?” she asked, not wanting to answer his question.

There was a chuckle and Ragnar put his pencil down. “I would say I was about twelve or thirteen summers when my uncle let me join my first hunt. I quickly learned that it was more than just tracing and throwing an axe. It is... dangerous business.” He traced the scar along his cheek with two fingers. “Not being a born natural like Agnus, and having less muscle, I soon realized that I had to learn to outsmart the beasts, rather than just attacking them.”

She hesitated. He was being honest with her, and she did not expect that. Why would he? He had absolutely no reason to be honest with her. She may be 'of value' to him, but why telling her the truth? It wasn't like she was going to find out he was lying. She hesitated a moment more. Because he was honest, she guessed she had to be honest too. “I was fairly young when I started studying dragons. I wanted to know as much as I could about them, because I couldn't join with the fights. Like you, I knew I had to try a different approach than most people. Though I mostly studied Terrible Terrors.”

Because they were the easiest to come close to, Hiccup thought. They didn’t immediately attacked you with fire or deadly spines.

“Those little reptiles?” Ragnar asked, before chuckling again. “One must start at the bottom before they can work their way up, I guess.”

This was unlike any other time she had been captured. It never went like this, her captures were never this genuine and polite. They were rude and threw her around like garbage. Ragnar was not at all treating her like that. Her look bounced at the door and back for a moment. “Okay, so why? Why trap and kill dragons? I'm the living proof they can be people's best friend.”

Ragnar inhaled deeply and looked at her for a moment before answering, playing with the pencil in his hand without looking. “You ask me why I kill dragons, but then I must ask you why Vikings keep yaks, chickens and sheep? They are food, they are what keeps people alive and help you live through the winter. Animals are animals, dragons are no exception.”

Hiccup opened her mouth to argue but Ragnar’s words made her close it again. Ragnar was smart, she had to admit. She would have to outsmart him. She had to think deeply, she had to come up with the right things. “Okay, fair's fair, that is a good point of argue. But we don’t eat horses, right? People saddle them, ride them and grow fond of them. They treat them well, like we treat our dragons.”

For a moment, she had hope she had made a good point but Ragnar chuckled and shook his head in amusement. He weaved his fingers together and rested his chin on them as he leaned his elbows on the table. “Hiccup... so young, so good, so  _pure_. Animals are like tools. When one needs them, one uses them. When they are not needed anymore, or if they loose their purpose, one discards them, do they not? Though I must say dragons are quite special animals, worth more than any horse or any tool. Worth more than gold.” 

Hiccup set her jaw and lifted her chin up in the air. He was making some good points, but still it didn’t feel the same. She wasn’t going to let him outsmart her. She had to be smarter than him, she _had_ to. She couldn’t afford to make mistakes. She had to think about every word that would leave her mouth. First think, then speak. Talking fast resulted in mistakes.

“You have grown fond of the beasts, you love them and care deeply for them. And it is not in my position to judge. Even if I could I wouldn't. I am fascinated by them too. Your Night Fury might be one of the rarest dragons out there and could fetch a handsome price on the market.” He raised one hand to prevent Hiccup from objecting as he saw her eyes grow wide. “Please, don't worry. I have no need of selling it at this time. No. He will serve another purpose. What that purpose is, is up to you.”

“What do you want?”

“It may surprise you, but I only want to talk. Though words can be the source of misunderstanding, they can also learn you a lot. Words tell stories, they tell reasons and the tell why. And," Ragnar chuckled, "I don't often get the chance to talk to someone like you." He studied his papers again but did not flip any pages. “I have found the intelligence of most of my men not to be… particularly high.”

Hiccup was picking the bandage around her right hand with her left, she knew she had to keep her hands off but it was just so hard. One of Ragnar’s men had drenched the bandage in some kind of oily substance before putting it around her hand, same with the bandage around her side just above her hip. Somehow it was cooling the fiery burn and making it a whole lot more comfortable. She suspected it helped her heal faster.

She looked up. “Okay then... I guess talking can't hurt anyone. What do you want to talk with me about?”

Ragnar chuckled again. Hiccup found it strange to see how such a Barbarian like himself could sound like some high, stuck-up governor. He was smart, yeah, but he had no reason to act so entitled and like everything else was beneath him. It was annoying. It smashed through his carefully build wall of politeness. 

“Hm, that is up to you. What would you like to talk about? I suppose you have questions,” Ragnar said, giving her a look that made shivers crawl down Hiccup's spine.

“Am I supposed to be scared?”

He cast his eyes up at her and smiled, “No. Not at all.”

“Are you going to kill me?” Hiccup asked. It seemed like a reasonable question. He was here, talking to her and everything, but what did he want? What if he was going to cut off her head the moment she stepped out that door?

“No,” Ragnar answered simply.

“What about Toothless?”

“His fate is in your hands.”

“My hands? How?”

Silence hung in the air as Ragnar studied the papers before him again. Wasn't he going to answer her? That was rude. She bet he liked to stay a mystery. The less people knew about him the better, he wanted to keep people on the edge of their seat, loving the feeling of power he had over them as he was the only one with the answers they sought.

Pressing her lips to a thin line, Hiccup tried thinking of something else, a question. But apart from the usual 'are my friends and family safe?' she had nothing. All questions were about her dad and her friends, her dragon and the other dragons. It was her duty to keep them safe, to make sure nothing would happen to them. Ragnar couldn't go to Berk, he just couldn't. It would be a buffet for dragon hunters there. There were so many dragons on Berk it was almost too crowded. Dragons were not just any animal, they were not yaks and they were not horses. They were dragons. 

Ragnar lifted up a charcoal pencil and twirled it between his fingers. “They say there are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true. The other is to refuse to believe what is.”

Hiccup raised her eyebrows at him, he really jumped from one topic to the other. He opened a drawer in his desk and took something out of it. Two game pieces. Hiccup recognized them. One was the Viking Chief and the other was... the accomplice. 

"Maces and Talons," Ragnar continued, "I began playing with my father when I was just a boy. I always insisted upon being the Honorable Viking Chief. I could never understand how he bested me time and time again. For years, I assumed his skill transcended mine. I believed what wasn't true. But, you see, in Maces and Talons, as in life, the line between good and evil is often unclear. Black and white can become gray so easily. What one soul considers evil, another might consider righteous. The Honorable Chief who fails to see this is found to be... the fool."

And there it was. It was true, she supposed. Every villain was a hero in their own mind. They believed what they did to be righteous. They saw themselves as the only person who would do something, the only one who would step up to take matters into their own hands. She wasn't quite sure though, what he meant with this. 

“Would you mind if I asked you a question?” Ragnar asked with such politeness that it took Hiccup back. Normally speaking, the villains were never this well-mannered or polite. They asked what they wanted to know and if you didn't answer they threatened with violence. One of her formal enemies had been as deranged as one could possibly be, just doing every single thing that popped up in his head such as throwing knives at everyone and throwing his men overboard. Another was rude and just took whatever he wanted and marched over everyone like a wild boar. 

"Ask away," she answered, her gaze darted at the door and back again.

“How does your story continue from here? I come across you even on the other side of the world, so you must love adventure. And exploring, judging form your well drawn maps. Please excuse me for assuming, but I cannot quite picture your story to continue on one island, somewhere in the middle of nowhere.”

“My story will continue with me being the Chief of said island,” Hiccup answered. _The honorable Viking Chief..._

“Or so I'm told, but that is not who you are, is it now?” Ragnar purred, cocking his head to the side slightly as he captured Hiccup's look with his own. “No, you don't want to follow in your father's footsteps, you want to be free to stand and fly wherever and whenever you desire and discover all the new dragons you can find.”

“Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t know you had the authority to judge me. Who are you? God?” she snapped back.

He chuckled, “I’m not judging you, Hiccup, I’m merely stating facts. Or is that not what you want? To be able to go and fly wherever you want without any responsibilities to hold you back?”

She cast her eyes down and stared at her feet – foot. Memories flashed before her eyes. How she had always thought she would never be good enough to become chief of Berk. She couldn’t even kill a dragon, she was too weak to join the fire brigade and all she could do was sharpen swords and axes for the other Vikings.

Then she finally had a dragon, right where she wanted it, entangled in ropes and defenseless. She had a knife in her hand and she could have easily killed it right there, right then. But she didn’t. Instead she released it, letting it go free. Later she discovered it once again, she began studying it, then approaching it, and eventually they became friends. She came to see the dragon as a ‘he’ and not an ‘it’. She named him, bonded with him, eventually rode him.

At the very moment she cut those ropes her tiny hopes and dreams of ever being able to become Chief had disappeared at once. She, a little Viking runt, had trained a dragon and made him her friend. The others would kill her if they found out. She discarded the idea of ever hurting a dragon again and she became fascinated by the skies and dragon species. She studied them, trained them, and cared for them.

Eventually her tribe did found out and they were pissed. After defeating a giant Red Death she earned their trust back and showed them the Viking way could also be the Dragon way. But she didn’t want to become Chief anymore. She had gotten a taste of adventure and she was ever hungry for more.

She realized she had been quiet for a few minutes and looked up again. “Maybe I do,” she started slowly, “But I can’t. I can’t just think about myself. I have responsibilities, I belong to a tribe and I – I need to be there. I can’t just deny the title Chief or take it and just leave, that’s not how it works. Everyone says it’s my duty as only child of the Chief that I follow into my dad’s footsteps and lead Berk. It’s how it's always been and how it will always be.”

“But that is not what you _want_ , is it?”

It was as if he was extending a hand into her mind and just pulling all the information from there, inhaling it like air and processing it with the speed of a Night Fury. As if he could see right through her and explore her deepest desires. No, he was right, it absolutely wasn’t what she wanted. She wanted to go out, explore, be free. But she knew she couldn’t. She wasn’t supposed to. Her responsibilities were holding her back like invisible ropes.

She was picking at the bandages around her hand again. Quick glances at the man before her told her that he knew exactly what she was thinking. That both scared and intrigued her. This man was smart even above her level. He was well-mannered and respected other people. If he hadn’t been a dragon hunter she could have actually maybe perhaps… liked him. Like, he wasn't even that old. He could sound old but he was maybe three- four years older than she was.

“It doesn’t matter what I _want_ ,” she said, refusing to look up into Ragnar’s eyes, “It’s my duty and I _have_ to fulfill it. The need of the many outweigh the need of the few. Just because I want to go out and explore, doesn’t mean I can say no to becoming Chief and let down my whole tribe.”

“If you really want to do something, you find a way. And trust me if I say there is a way.”

Hiccup just stared at him, just staring. She was confused and curious, but mostly confused. It didn't take long though, before the confusion turned into a somewhat judging frown. Of course, here we go, she thought. She had heard this before. People making these ridiculous plans that were supposed to help her not becoming Chief. But they never worked. It was all fake, all meant to shut her up just a little longer.

It was feeding honey to a Monstrous Nightmare. It kept her content for a while until she found out the plans were worthless (the honey jar was empty) and she started debating and whining again about becoming Chief.

She pressed her lips to a thin line and looked away for a second. “Yeah, cause I haven’t heard that one before. Whatever you are planning, whatever you will propose, it won’t work. We’re Vikings, you can’t find them more stubborn than us.”

“Exactly,” Ragnar said, taking Hiccup aback again. This dude. He was such a mystery.

Through her long bangs that had fallen before her face, she stared at the man. Her look both curious, judging, and even almost challenging, waiting for Ragnar to explain himself. She knew he would, otherwise he'd only leave her confused and that wouldn't work in his advantage. Unless he had thought of such a complicated plan that her being confused about what for her was an opportunity was his way of getting her to... to what, exactly?

Ragnar chuckled and leaned back in his chair. “You say he is stubborn, and your father is not that old. His stubbornness is what will be keeping him going, he's not going to surrender to the eternal sleep any time soon. I cannot make him live forever, but I’m sure that being Chief for another few decades won't be such an issue. And while he is Chief, you can do whatever you want.”

Discomfort crawled Hiccup’s skin as she narrowed her eyes at him. He was being weirdly nice and why in the world would he ever give such an offer to her? She was ruining his plans and they were almost at a world changing war. She had blown up his fleet not even a week ago. And now he was offering her to skip on being Chief and go to see the world. Something didn’t feel right. Something was gnawing on her insides, as if telling her not to believe this man. Not that she did that in the first place, but she trusted him even less now.

She narrowed her eyes, throwing him a suspicious glance. She honestly couldn't tell whether he was being serious or not. “Only I can change my life, no one can do it for me.”

“Maybe only you can change your life, but you’d be surprised what a helping hand could do.”

“How about our war? I blew up your ships, you tried to kill me and Toothless. Doesn’t really sound like a – eh, a good start of a collaboration. After all, bad beginnings lead to bad results.”

She watched as Ragnar turned yet another page before lacing his fingers together again and leaning back. “Forgiveness,” he said, and he spoke again before Hiccup had the chance to scoff at him, “Not really a sound business practice, now, is it? Trust, however, is imperative. A man will never know how far he's willing to go until he steps to the edge and looks down. I find trust the most important thing there is. Without trust you have nothing. You slash at me with betrayal, I’ll parry you with my vengeance.”

A shrug of her shoulders, “So?”

“So, I’m willing to see past our disagreement of the past. You destroyed my fleets I tried to kill you and attacked your home. But let’s not dwell on the past. Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like. I'm ready to try again, if you are?"

_The accomplice... One of the most important pieces in all of Maces & Talons, allowing a player to use an opponent's piece for their own ends. You can certainly win without it, but with it, you can attain total victory. _

Okay... she was started to get where he was going. But that didn't make her any less suspicious. 

“You are offering me one of my greatest desires, what would I owe you for such an... for a lack of better words, amazing offer?”

There was a chuckle and an amusing look. Somewhere she regretted asking it but she was addressing the elephant in the room. He was being nice, offering her greatest dream to her. What if he wanted something really weird? Something impossible? What if he wanted something she either didn’t want or couldn’t give to him? There was a silence as the two stared at each other. One serious and a tad scared, the other calm, amused and entirely in control.

She almost scowled herself for even thinking about his offer. But still… It sounded so appealing. He could exactly tell what she wanted, and he played in on her desires. The offer was amazing, it was what she wanted. 

“Not as much as you might think,” he said, he looked to his side and reached out for a loose lying paper. Hiccup moved her weight to her good foot, sitting on the edge of her seat, ready to bolt. She restrained herself from running right this instance. She wanted to hear what he had to say. Maybe it wasn’t even that bad, maybe she could agree and later on make him see her ways. Make him stop hunting dragons. If all he wanted was for her to join him on his boat to talk more and maybe see the world together... ugh, that sounded disgustingly romantic and not what she meant. 

“Your abilities. You capability to communicate with dragons. You can easily contain that Night Fury of yours, and I have seen you controlling a feral Monstrous Nightmare. You could keep them calm through transport. Maybe even make them come to us.”

Controlling a feral Monstrous Nightmare? Did he mean the Monstrous Nightmare on the Swarmlands? She had ‘trained’ a Titan Monstrous Nightmare out there, but it wasn’t like controlling. He was angry because of something Hiccup didn’t know and therefore attacking other dragons. All she did was give him some Dragon Nip and scratched his chin, carefully. She didn’t ‘control’ him that was ridiculous. What was even more ridiculous was that Ragnar thought she would ever use her dragon skills to help him slaughter these beautiful creatures. It made her sick.

“I’ll have to politely decline,” she growled.

Then suddenly she stood up and flipped the table with newfound strength. Ragnar jumped up too and reached out for her but she raised her fist and gave him a quick, hard punch against his throat. She hoped she had crushed his windpipe, she probably hadn't but she could always hope. As he grabbed his throat and gasped for air, she sprinted at the door and threw it open. Then she immediately ducked and dodged Agnos’ big arms reaching for her. She continued sprinting away from the Captain’s hut, down to below deck. That was where they kept all their dragons, and so that was where they kept Toothless.

She found him fairly quick, which was strange. What was strange in the first place was that they had put him on the same ship as her considering the dragon hunters knew she had a habit of escaping.

The old planks she stepped on retained the odor of the fish even after a storm. The weird, greenish metal the bars of the cage were made of showed no signs of rusting and apart from Toothless there were no dragons to be seen. _Strange_.

There were almost no guards, just two not very smart looking men, and she saw her bag hung on a nail sticking from the wall. Just ready to be taken back by her. Why would they leave it there like that? She grabbed her bag, put the strap across her chest and groped about inside for Inferno. The guards walked at her but she was faster, igniting the sword with the simple push of a button. The wound above her hip stung and she doubted she could put up a good fight.

Turned out, she didn’t have to. The fire alone made the two guards spook and they took off. They just ran away without even putting up a fight. What in the world..?

And if that wasn’t easy enough one of them dropped keys. Keys. Just _dropped_ it. _The_ keys. Again, what in the world? _Too easy_ , shot through her head. It was all way too easy. The dragon looked up, his intelligent, green eyes studying the Viking standing before his door and then coming up as it recognized his human. Toothless hummed a greeting and walked at the door, scraping his nails over the ground.

“Shhh,” Hiccup hushed, pressing her finger against her lips. The dragon snorted softly and pressed his nose against the bars of his door, eager to get out. She pushed the key inside the lock and turned it.

With a dry ‘click’ the lock opened. Hiccup pulled the lock off the handle and swung the door open. The dragon dipped his head, humming, then flipped it high, and made a high and full skyward circle with his nose. She quickly pulled the muzzle of Toothless’ head and threw it in a corner. The dragon stood still as Hiccup removed the shackle around his paw and followed his rider outside the cage.

He tried to stay as calm as possible. When his rider grabbed the saddle he did turn eager though. He stamped his front foot, then hind foot, as if telling the Viking to hurry up already. As the Viking lifted the saddle onto his back the dragon shook his head. His ears were turned back to the rider and one of his eyes studied her curiously though she had done this many times before.

Hiccup strapped the girth underneath the dragon’s belly in a swift movement. She had to use both her hands, her right one felt strangely stiff and she had trouble bending her fingers. Whatever oil they had put on the bandages didn’t only take the pain away, it took _all_ the feeling of her hand away. Toothless threw his head in his neck and whined, stamping his front paw.

“Shhh, Toothless!” she hissed. Why hadn’t any guards shown up yet? She pressed the finger of her other hand against her lips, a sign that should tell the dragon to be silent. Toothless hummed softly but was further quiet, so Hiccup could check his tailfin. Still broken. Not that she had expected it to magically be repaired, but she still somewhere had hoped that the damage had been less than she thought. It wasn’t. And that was the spare one.

More guards came below deck and ran at them, but Toothless held them back with a few well-aimed plasma blasts. Why did they show up so late? What was happening?

Since the red one was broken the yellow one would have to do for now. Her hands almost trembled as she worked hard to strap it to his tail. Click-click-click. She clicked the pieces of the tail in place and pulled at the strap to fasten it somewhat more. Toothless roared at a man trying to get closer. She pulled at the side of the fake tailfin to check if it was really secured, then she tightened the cables and ropes attaching it to the saddle.

She climbed onto his back, putting her feet in the stirrups. Her side began stinging more painful and her hand was not liking this. She tried stretching and bending her fingers, they barely cooperated. She fastened herself to the saddle and gave the sign. Toothless sprinted across the corridor. He shot a hole in the deck and after Hiccup pressed her foot down in the pedal he flew right through it.

There were no arrows, bolas, catapult boulders or anything fired at them when they shot up into the sky. There was simply nothing. Toothless twirled around in the air, so they were facing the ship again but from a safe distance.

She noticed there was only a single ship, no back-up whatsoever. And there were no dragons in the cages, nor were there much men on board. It all didn’t add up. Agnos and Ragnar walked onto the deck from the Captain’s hut. Why did it take them so long? She had been down there for _minutes_ and they were just coming from their chambers. Didn’t they _want_ to catch her?

“Looks like you’ve lost this round!” she yelled down at them, not being able to withhold the undertone of triumph. They probably wanted her to escape because they had almost no men and were all alone. Ragnar had practically asked her to join the Dragon Hunters and let her escape when she declined. That was unlike him. He didn’t just let his enemies escape unless he wanted to. What was he up to?

“On the contrary, my dear Hiccup,” Ragnar said. _Oh no_. Her mind worked frantically to come up with something Ragnar could still do. A plan, an attack, something. Did he have leverage on her? Did he have something she wanted? She prayed to Thor he didn’t secretly have someone she cared about locked in his ship. What if he had her dad?! No wait, she would have known that already. The ship wasn’t that big, not much space to hide a gigantic man. But what if–

Hiccup frowned as he took something from behind his back. A little box was resting in the palm of his hand. The box was made of wood, with gilded edges and a pretty seal of silver to close it. Wait a minute, she knew that box!

“Pretty huh?” Ragnar continued, “You have brought it to me yourself. I have to say I’m… quite thankful. I have waited for it to arrive for a long time, nobody would deliver it. It was only fate that the person I wanted to try it on would bring it straight to me.”

She had delivered it to the desert tribe, it was what she had been paid for!

He opened it and took out another, smaller box. This box was black and there was a weird, blue glow coming from the inside. Toothless snarled and shook his head wildly, his flight faltering for a short moment. They lost some altitude and Toothless clawed at his head with one paw. He was affected by whatever it was. She stroked his head, trying to calm him down.

“Do you like it? I know I most certainly do. It is of much use to whoever possesses it. Do you want to take a closer look, perhaps?”

Hiccup just glared at him. No, hell she didn’t. Whatever it was it was bad news so she didn’t want to come anywhere near it. Toothless roared at the hunters on the ship as they closed in, their weapons out but not aimed at her. He fired a warning shot at them, blasting a hole in the deck before them. That should say enough.

“What do you want, Ragnar?” Hiccup asked.

“To compliment you Hiccup. You’ve had some impressive victories recently, put quite the dent in my bottom-line.”

Hiccup let out a chuckle herself. “Glad to hear it.”

Ragnar toyed a bit with the black box in his hands, letting his finger graze over the strange button on top of it. “You're a worthy opponent, and as such this battle between us could continue for years to come, or...”

A silence fell. “Or? Or what?”

“Or it could end today.”

Toothless screeched at the man, beating his wings down hard to bring his human further away from him. Lies, lies, lies. All lies. Ragnar was a liar, he manipulated. She shouldn’t be believing a word he said.

“I accept your surrender,” Hiccup said airy.

Ragnar laughed at that, a sound that was already annoying Hiccup to the bone. He laughed and chuckled about everything, that dude seemed to think everything was funny. “Oh It's good to see your sense of humor still in tight but I'm offering a truce with very generous terms. You see, I have a map right here with me. There’s a line drawn in the middle. You stay south of this line and my men and I will stay above it. We'll never have to fight again. You can be my Accomplice.”

She just glared at him. He made a spreading gesture with his arms.

“My dear Hiccup, I'm not unreasonable, I have no desire to rule the world like...” he coughed behind his head. “…some people. I'm a business man, and fighting is bad for business. I don’t know if you noticed it, but danger is in the air. Misery is on the way. Something big is coming, something not even you can take on your own.”

“Why would you care?”

"It also concerns you when the nearest wall is burning. It would be right to seek allies, so I’m offering a truce in which we don’t have to fight each other, so we can focus on the real threat here. This isn't just about you, or me. It's about what's best for all of us. What do you say?"

He held his hand out to her, probably for her to take. He was her enemy, but she couldn’t deny the genuine look in his eyes. He was the enemy, he was bad and almost merciless, but he still was honest and genuine. There was no denying that fact.

But honest or not, Hiccup straightened her back as Toothless snarled down at the ship. First he captured her and said he wanted to use her ‘talent’ to speak ‘Dragonese’ for his own good, but when she said no and it didn’t work out and escaped he suddenly offered a truce which concluded they would divide their territory in two and they both stayed on their side of the line. Not suspicious _at_ _all_. And this ‘threat’ that was coming? It was probably a boatload of crap. There was no threat, only Ragnar. _He_ was the threat.

“No,” she said simply.

He was scared, she suspected. He was scared of what she could do. If their fighting was bad for his business then she was glad to fight. Everything to end the dominance of those disgusting dragon hunters. Toothless felt her muscles tighten as she felt his. They were gonna sink this stupid ship and get out of here. She had to get back to Berk. To her dad. They had to hear this and they had to make a plan.

“Very well. See how you handle the doom that is coming. Until we meet again, Hiccup Haddock,” Ragnar said.

Just as Toothless dived down at him and Toothless started to build up a plasmablast he raised the little square box at the two and pressed the button on top of it. Hiccup’s eyes widened. A big, blue and black whirlwind appeared before them, almost covering the whole side of the ship in a blue mist. A tremble seemed to work through the skin of the universe and Hiccup felt her whole body tingle. Toothless tried to change directions but the hole seemed to suck them in and they flew right into the center of it.

A sudden cold licked at her face and crept under her clothes, spreading across her skin like the lacy tide on a frigid winter beach. It was as if she had jumped into ice water. An intense cold swept over her. She felt her own breath catch in her chest, squeeze her throat. The cold went deeper than her skin. It was inside her chest, it was inside her very heart…

Toothless roared and Hiccup felt fear coming up her chest as they should have crashed against the boat long ago, but they didn’t, they were still in the whirlwind. They twirled around, being sucked to the edges of the whirlwind and then being pulled with the current, around and around and around and around. All kinds of tints of blue flew around them and they made her head ache. Then they stopped so suddenly she almost got a whiplash and she was thrown off her dragon.

More cold surrounded her.

  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey readers, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. It will probably take a fairly long time before the next comes because I had this idea, but it turned out to be garbage and I got a much better one but I'll need to type that whole thing out now so that can take a while. I had this idea of a character but it just wasn't right so I changed everything. 
> 
> I'll give you a hint: It's Loki! 
> 
> Next chapter I'll start with the Avengers, I hope you're going to like it.


	6. After The Darkness Comes The Light, Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki's going through hell, the demons are hurting him beyond imaginable and he wants it to stop.  
> But when it finally stops, he realizes he's just thrown into a deeper part of hell that might be worse. 
> 
> Now all he needs is an angel to come and rescue him.
> 
> Then it's important to know not all angels reside in heaven. Some walk the Earth. They are closer than we think.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> W A R N I N G : There are mentions of torture in here, plus some some anxiety. It's written in a memory and it's not told till the details but it's still there. If you don't like that, don't read. I put this warning here because I don't want to trigger people into giving them a bad time. In case that's not something you want to read today.
> 
> It's hurt/comfort
> 
> There's a part 1 and 2 because a chapter over 25.000 words was just too long (unless you think it's not, I'm still trying this thing out). I hope it isn't stupid or boring or not what you were looking for. If there are mistakes, I apologize. I have rewritten this chapter about three times and I'm still not sure if this is what I want. If this is good enough. This piece has been lying here for WEEKS and I just... ugh... I want to publish, but I'm afraid I'm forgetting something or there's like 500 plotholes even though the plot has JUST started.

 

_How long it had been?_

 

_He wished he knew._

 

After the battle they had just kept him in a cell for some time. For about a year, regarding to the Midgardian calendar. He had no idea what was happening out there. His magic had been checked. But he had still felt the rage of the war, the control that had been placed over him before entering Midgard had never faltered. Neither the Midgardians nor Aesir had ever freed him from his connection to the creatures that held control over him.

They didn’t know about that connection in the first place.

They had never cared to find out. They had just assumed he was evil, marked him as such and defeated him to be done with it. Now they were heroes and he was the bad guy, the monster. As all ways supposed to be. Every story had a hero and a villain. His mind had been made to believe he was the hero in this story when actually he was the villain all along.

They never cared to find out if there was something else going on. But then again, the control had slipped so deep he didn’t know either. It just felt natural for him. It felt like this was what it was supposed to be. That this was his calling, his ‘destiny’. But this wasn’t just some ‘Every Villain Is A Hero In His Own Mind’ kind of thing, he was a villain. He was just made to believe he wasn’t.

Not that anyone cared.

   

There was a time he had thought his time in the cell to be boring. Said it was almost _killing_ him. Dramatically speaking.

How _wrong_ he had been.

Now the pain was on a point he barely felt anything anymore. It was just this constant burning-stinging sensation that never seemed to lessen, so Loki started to wonder if this was just how he always felt. If this was how it had always been.

After his days in the boring, but stable cell, he had been through _hell_ and the worst agony imaginable. Everything was pain in that dungeon room with the torture devices lying on the table and hanging from the wall. He knew they were going to be used and every single device he saw made him more and more scared.

Now he was lying on what felt to be a floor, with his eyes closed and anxiety eating him away.

He still didn't open his eyes, he was scared to. He stretched his hand out, feeling his whole body protest, he felt something cold and solid. He lay there for a few minutes. He tried to picture what his surroundings looked like in his mind, where he could be. He longed to open his eyes, look around, but he was too afraid. He wasn't afraid to see the most horrible things around him, but he was ruled by the horrible thought that there was _nothing_ to see.

Eventually he succumbed to his curiosity and he opened his eyes widely. His worst presumptions were confirmed. Blackness was all there was. He gasped for breath, his chest heavy and all the air gone from his lunges. He felt his broken ribs crack at the movement and he had trouble sucking in air. The impenetrable darkness surrounded him, pressed down on him in the most uncomfortable way.

He still lay there, not moving a muscle, his eyes wide open, staring into the darkness. He tried to think, to come up with a solution, but he couldn't think of something, he didn't move.

He tried to remember what happened after he had been taken away by Thor. They didn’t go back to Asgard, no, they went somewhere else. Somewhere on Midgard. The government had a hand in what had happened to him, which had been mostly a Special Ops prolonged assignment. To teach agents to interrogate, and have them try out with someone disposable.

Torturing was part of the training of the people that were supposing to protect the country. They hurt him, for days and days and days. It must have been weeks, months even. There were times where he was suspecting they had left him alone for weeks. Only to spend the next eight torturing him again.

People came and people went, he saw new faces come and go. Some he knew by name. For example, the nasty carvings on his back were to blame to George Norton. Not that it mattered he knew them by name. Nothing mattered. Not them, not him.

Not anymore.

He remembered being brought here, the cells, the dark dungeons. He had lost track of time quite quickly, but he knew those guards had been torturing him for a fairly long time. It started with somewhat common things (as far as you could call torture normal); beating him, choking him, the ripping off his nails, the bucket in which they almost drowned him many times, only to pull him up just before he breathed in the liquid.

They were trying to find out what hurt him the most, which had to be the fire. They saw it had the effects they wanted to see. Because he was a Frost Giant he was very prone to heat. Many hot summers in Asgard were spent inside. If he was directly exposed to the sun in mid-summer, not much protection by everything above around thirty degrees, it became dangerous for him. He could faint, fall into some sort of coma and his body could shut down.

Fire didn’t just hurt him, it destroyed him. It crawled under his skin, and traveled through his body, like liquid agony. He could feel and see his limbs being eating away by it, he could smell it and he there was nothing he could do to escape it.

Then there was the breaking of his bones. They would push him into the room with someone to ‘train’ their fighting skills and let that person beat him until he had passed out. They’d do it again the next day, whenever they felt like it. Because of his Frost Giant psychology and the long use of his magic he healed fast, but that only seemed to work in his disadvantage this time. He wanted to die. He wanted to die _so_ _bad_. Everything to be released of this pain. This just gave them the advantage to hurt him over and over and over again.

The last thing he remembered was them saying someone about a mission, right before feeling a sharp sting together with an excruciating pain in the back of his head. Then he woke up here, in the dark. The stones beneath him felt cold, damp and solid, a real dungeon floor.

A terrifying thought made his blood stream to his feet, and for a moment he lost his consciousness. When he awoke again, only a short moment later, his whole body shaking and ignoring the pain in his… well… everywhere. He reached his arms around, in all directions. He didn't feel anything, but still he didn’t dare to sat up or crawl around, he was afraid he would come across the walls of a crypt.

The thought of being locked inside a room with no doors and no windows, only solid walls made his sweat brake out. He didn’t move. He felt the constant pain, but he couldn't bring himself to pay attention to it. The pain was there, but it was like he didn’t understand what it was or what he was supposed to do with it. Pain was nothing new, and this constant, annoying pain was nothing in comparison to the agony his jailers had put him through. He guessed he deserved it, after everything he’d done. 

Eventually he slowly rolled to his back and came up. He moved forwards, crawling across the floor because he couldn’t get himself onto his feet. His eyes were wide open, hoping to catch even the littlest ray of light. Like that, he covered some distance. His fate could have been worse.

Was this it? Was this going to be his fate? To starve to death? Or was his fate going to be even worse? How long would it take? Days? Weeks? Months?

With one stretched out hand he felt the cold surface of a wall. He followed it, his hand pressed against it. If he kept following the wall he would eventually return to where he started, so he could find out the size of the room he was in.

He dug his nails into the wall, pulling himself up. He felt his ribs protest, he couldn’t breathe and his legs were so numb he started to suspect his nerves had been burned away. He took tiny steps along the wall, his hands gliding over the smooth surface. But he hadn't properly estimated his own tiredness. He stumbled along the wall for a little longer; then he tripped and fell. He didn't bother getting up, he was too tired. There was too much pain. Sleep took him into its tight embrace rather fast.

   

When he was awake again he couldn't stand up, he couldn't come onto his feet. He could only crawl. So he crawled at a random direction, and stumbled upon a wall that felt different from the others. He moved his hands across the cold, rough surface and eventually found something. Something round. A doorknob! He had found a door! Thank god.

He grabbed the knob and turned. Nothing. He pulled. Nothing. He pushed. Nothing. It wouldn’t open, it wouldn’t even move. The door made no noise, didn't even move the slightest. Before Loki knew it hot tears dripped down his face. Not the smartest move if he was locked up here without any water, but he couldn't help himself. He was so tired, he was in so much pain.

He regretted everything he had done, he wished to take it all back. He knew that this was his punishment, and he knew he deserved it. But after all the torture, the constant agony, he had thought to be finally done. That he could die in peace. But no, they had locked him in here and had yet to face a whole different kind of torture.

He couldn't count on his brother to get him out, and if he couldn't count on Thor he couldn't count on anyone. There was no one left, only his brother had cared for him and now it was over, it was done. Only his jailers would be able to change his fate. If they decided that he was to rot in the darkness for all eternity, then rot he would.

Knowing how irreparably alone in the universe he was hurt more than all the tortures his nondescript captors threw at him: more than the drowning and reviving, more than the scorching flames and the beatings.

Those stories, those worlds, those promises... how fucked up that titan left him that Loki would almost miss those tricks and lies, that sometimes he found himself wishing them to come back so he could live again in that strange place that was his personal Wonderland. Where he was certain, and everything was simple. 

That monster didn't use his powers for good things. Well, they were good for him, Loki guessed. But for the rest, and specially for Loki, these tricks only made them be the villains in the titan's perfect story where he was the misunderstood hero waiting for a chance to prove his worth. But Loki, and the others, they weren't the bad guys, no. Or maybe yes, he didn't know anymore.

The titan's power wasn't unique, but a really good one to have: he could bend and sculpture with his words until Loki was almost believing that he was breathing just because the monster allowed him to do it; he could make up every reality into a favorable situation for him, making everybody else guilty for every sin, even his own mistakes.

He lowered his hand and curled up against the door, sleep taking over again.

   

He had no idea how big the room was he was in. It could be giant, it could be small. The only thing he knew for sure is that the door was iron, there was hay or straw on the ground and there was at least one corner. But the room could have six corners, how would he know?

After a while he started crawling around the room very, very carefully. Loki had once read about execution rooms in which there were booby-traps lying around. An example was a pitch black room in which there was a well in the center, with water. If you fell into it you wouldn't be able to climb out and you would drown. Drowning actually didn’t sound that bad, it would be a quicker release of death than this.

Other rooms had a ceiling that slowly lowered, eventually crushing the prisoner. In other rooms there were sharp objects scattered around on which you could cut yourself, but in the dark Loki saw nothing.

He carefully felt the wall. It was smooth, solid. Metal probably. But at least there was no glass or nails sticking from it. It's just smooth and cold. But Loki didn't mind cold. It helped with the burns on his hand. They had stuck his hands into acid to ‘burn away his magic’. They didn’t burn away his magic but they did made it nearly impossible for him to wield it.

That would have been the idea of Julian Parks, he had been the one to grab his hands and put them inside the acid, and kept pushing them in even after Loki had screamed until his throat was so sore he coughed up blood.

Standing up was too difficult. He could barely stretch his back, let alone stand up. But crawling around worked too. Loki crawled along the wall on hands and knees, his hands gliding over the smooth surface. He had left a pile of hay in the corner where he started so he could remember where he began, because he couldn't see his hand even if he held it right before his face.

He felt another corner. He turned right along the wall. There was nothing on the ground, just straw. After crawling for a bit longer he reached another corner. The way from the second to the third corner was shorter than from the first to the second.

Again he turned right. He reached a fourth corner. The way from three to four was about as long as from one to two. He turned right. He felt a corner and a pile of hay under his hands. He had reached the first corner again. Okay, so he knew a little more about the room. That wasn't very helpful though.

And the pain in his body became worse and worse. It was burning up again, coming back. Suddenly Booby-Traps from which you could die instantly didn’t seem so horrifying anymore. They seemed like a blessed quick release of pain.

  

Loki's shoulders trembled but no tears dripped down his face. He had no tears left. There wasn't enough water inside him to cry. His throat was as dry as a desert and his body was on fire.

He desperately hit his hand against the iron door, but it didn’t open. His legs shook and he fell down to the ground. His fingers clawed at the door, his nails scratched over the smooth surface. But it didn't help. The door didn't give in.

He sat there and sat there, for God knew how long. He almost longed for the sight of his captors, for people around him even though they hurt him. At least, that way, he would know that he was alive and wouldn't have to endure his own excruciating thoughts. He wouldn’t have to be locked up in complete darkness.

He knew that he was alone, and he knew that it was his own doing, but the thing was that he didn't think he would have done anything differently given the chance. He was destined for that, for doom, for solitude, to end up as his enemy's plaything, living through indescribably pain of all types for the rest of his days. He had been lied to and used so many times, he didn’t know anything else. First Odin, then Thanos…

If Loki would’ve had any tears left he would spill them by even thinking about the mad titan’s name.

And even after he had somehow gotten through his time with that Mad Titan there were the people from Midgard, doing things to him he had never wished to endure. The first time they had started to hurt him, when they burned him with fire, it was like waking up from a fever in a bath of ice water, almost drowning. He gasped for breath. The spell snapped, breaking free from him and he could feel his own will and thoughts guide him out of the haze. The magic broke like glass and the shards were thrown around in his brain, causing more agony but it felt  _good_. The magic writhed, desperately trying to stay but it couldn't. Loki resisted and he got rid of the last little leftovers of magic that wasn't his. 

When that was done it was a huge shock and for a moment Loki had no idea where he was, what he was doing or who all those people were. He was surrounded by strangers who were hurting him but he didn't know what he was doing there. 

He didn’t understand why they were hurting him or why Thor didn’t do anything about it. Or anyone. Then he remembered, he remembered how he had fallen and how that purple freak had pushed the Scepter into his hands, selling him lies and making him believe them. How that thing had worked its dark magic till deep down in his very being.

There was no hope, not anymore.

At some point he stopped thinking altogether and just lay there, his senses becoming number and number with time, until he was only a shell of a person. Maybe now he would be able to die. Maybe now it would stop hurting.

He slammed his hand against the door again, weakly.

No answer came from behind the door. Nobody was there. Nobody was coming for him. He was alone. Nobody knew he was here, except they who put him here. And they were not planning to let him out.

He felt as if he was floating in the air and his body was being burned by the sun. It felt as if he was high on pain, unable to formulate a thought. He was there, in the cold, dark room, but he also wasn't. He could feel the cold, but at the same time he didn’t feel anything.

He stopped feeling hunger and thirst a while ago. He felt empty inside now. He knew he could survive a long time without any food or water, but that made it so much worse. If his jailers left him like this long enough eventually he would be no more than a useless doll, stolen of any sense and thought he had left.

Time passed and passed.

The worst wasn't the lack of food or water, nor was it the pain. The worst was the darkness and silence. There was nothing, literally nothing. Just darkness, black everywhere he looked. He could make sounds himself, but it scared him, so he tried to make as less noise as possible.

He crawled into a corner of the room and made himself small. But it hurt. Being pressed against the wall hurt so much, curling up hurt so much. Everything hurt. All he felt was hurt hurt hurt. There was only pain pain pain. He crawled back into the center of the room and tried to scream, scream his lungs out, scream in all the pain and frustration he was in. Nut no sound left his mouth. His tongue was like leather in his mouth. But he didn’t even long for water. He didn’t want it anymore. He just wanted the pain to stop, to see again and to feel again. There was nothing here, nothing. Did he even exist? Was he alive or is he already dead?

Was this how death felt?

He longed for the feeling of skin to skin. He wanted his mother and his brother, even his father. Anyone. But mostly just Thor. He wanted things to go back to the way they were. Even being regarded less than what he was seemed heaven in comparison to this and he just _missed_ Thor. He missed that dumb oaf of a brother. Since he could remember, Thor had always had faith in him, this unshakable faith that never seemed to lessen no matter what he did. Even when he was attacking New York his brother still believed in him.

He had betrayed his brother’s trust, so now he was feeling it. He never should have done that. He was so angry and so hurt, everything had just come up at once and Loki had always been the jealous type. He envied what his brother had though he knew it wasn’t his brother’s fault. He should have appreciated the way his brother truly cared about him. But he didn’t. And Loki was sure that whatever there had been between them had been smashed to pieces. He had blew it, so this was what he deserved.

He wanted to go back, to when things were less complicated. To when he was just Odin’s son and Thor’s brother. To when he hadn’t been so jealous and had fallen into the hands of a being that had used him for his own goals. He had thought the purple maniac had broken him, but somewhere he realized that faded in comparison with what had been done to him here.

He wanted it to be over…

   

  

 

 

_Touch._

Something he hadn’t felt in a long, long time. In too long. A hand lay beneath his ear and a thumb lightly caressed his cheek. It wasn’t much, but for him it was the most wonderful thing in the world. If he could purr he was sure he would have. But instead he arched into the touch, not wanting the feeling to end. He was alive, he existed. Someone could touch him. He didn’t know who it was but frankly, he didn’t care. Someone was here, someone who wasn’t hurting him.

“My god,” he heard above him, a male voice, barely a whisper. “What have they done to you?”

Loki’s eyes fluttered open, his whole vision was blurry as if he was looking through a plastic bag. He could barely see anything.

Wait.

Blurry? Barely?

Loki blinked a few times fast, headache coming up in his head but he ignored it as he _saw_ something. It was still very dark but he thought he saw some vague shades of light cast down into the room and a darker form was bend into his vision. That had to be that person.

“Jesus… It’s gonna be alright. Don’t worry about it. I got you.”

An arm slipped beneath his back, heaved him upwards and another arm wrapped underneath his knees. Loki let out a groan, his breath hitching and filled with pain as he couldn’t take a single gulp of air and he heard the man apologize about ten times in a few seconds. He felt he was lifted into the air, surprisingly gently. They went from the dark cell to a more illuminated place. A hallway? Loki had no idea, he couldn’t see a thing.

The light-headedness that had been keeping him in a slumber for an eternity was calling at him again. And like the flame of a match in the wind, he was pulled into darkness again.

 

  

There was a soft, beeping sound, but it took Loki a long time to hear it and though he didn’t understand what it was. First he realized that he could breathe normally again, his ribs weren’t pressing down on his lungs like they had been doing before and that there were parts of his body that didn’t ache so much anymore. It wasn’t that much of a relief though.

He had been so comfortable in his pleasant comatose state, why would his body choose to leave it? But there it was, that steady beeping sound, on his ears, making its way to its brain. And there was something else that after many times consciousness and unconsciousness started to filter through. Little by little he started hearing other things too, like the tapping of rain on a roof, footsteps and the faint sound of a voice in the background.

It was always the same voice, it was softly talking to him. Just talking. Sometimes he felt that person do something, like touch him, but he couldn’t quite figure out what it was that he was doing. It didn’t hurt though, if anything, it somehow made him hurt less. He couldn’t hear what was being said. His senses hadn’t been healed enough for that. This sudden change, the removing from him from that dark hell, he needed to completely reboot.

It was very strange, Loki thought, as there had been no beeping in his cell. Only an eternal silence that made his head hurt. Why would his jailers move him somewhere else? Why move him at all? And why wasn’t he being hurt? This seemed too strange. Something was very off, and he didn't know what. Still, it wasn't enough for him to open his eyes, not yet. Whatever new hells awaited him, he was in no hurry to discover. He would get to that later, and he hoped he’d die before he would find out.

     

When he woke up again (for so far he even gained consciousness) things got even stranger. He didn't open his eyes, he couldn't. Not yet. He was still too weak and too tired. He heard it was still raining (or was it raining _again_?), and he still heard the beeping, a sound he had heard before but couldn’t quite pinpoint where. It was so simple, he knew that, but still his mind couldn’t wrap around it. Not that his mind could get around anything right now. He felt that his hand was lifted up, just a bit. And he vaguely felt something warm move over it, very gently. It was also a bit wet. Like water. It was dabbing his hand, but gently, so it didn’t hurt. It just felt a bit odd.

It took him a fairly long time to understand that someone was cleaning him. He braced himself for the reason they were doing this, the underlying motive, but none came. The person cleaning him was careful, gentle, and went over both his arms and hands with care, replacing the water when it got cold, and carefully dried him.

There were no beatings, no choking, no shocking, burning or acid. No pain. Just this careful cleaning with soft speaking Loki was still not able to understand. The feeling of his body came back to him, and he began to notice more and more. He suspected he was lying on a bed, as it was soft and comfortable. So different from the stone floor of his cell. 

The beeping was there every time he woke up. The raining not. Sometimes it was there three times in a row and sometimes he didn’t hear it for a whole. Odd it was raining so many times. The beeping continued and he finally realized it had to be one of those things he had heard in the hospital. One of those machines, he couldn’t remember the name.

Days must have passed since the first time he heard the beeping, and yet, no one had come to hurt him. To cause him more pain. Only this man who had been talking care of him for some reason.

He knew he wasn't in his cell anymore, nor was he in the cold dungeon with the torture devices. He was somewhere completely else. But he couldn’t up with am explanation that told him ‘why’ or ‘how’. There simply was no explanation.

He hadn't had the strength to get out himself, all beat up and half-dead, and he had no one to rescue him as there was no one left. There was no one who would have want to save him, nor was there anyone who even knew he was there. It was a mystery, and there was probably something dark behind it, more pain or he was going to be used for someone’s own personal gains again, it seem to happen all the time. Maybe they wanted him to heal to they could use his magic. Or maybe they were doing this so Loki owned his life to them. He wouldn't be surprised if that happened, and he made a promise to himself. 

If the hurting would start again, or if they wanted to use him for whatever the hell they wanted. He'd kill himself.

But for now he decided that he would enjoy this peace while it lasted and went back to sleep.

   

Every breath was a struggle; his damaged lungs were desperate for oxygen, but his body would not cooperate. He couldn’t breathe, the air wouldn’t reach his lungs. Something was wrong. A string of harsh coughs shook his pale and fragile form, leaving him weaker than he had thought possible. The breaths he took were entirely too fast and shallow to be normal. He gripped a handful of sheets that lay on top of him and pleaded for the agonizing pain in his chest to stop. His eyes had opened a crack and a sudden light attacked them, but he couldn’t focus on that now.

The oxygen flowing into his nose had no effect, his mouth was open and he desperately tried to suck in air. He felt the air brush past his throat and in his mouth but it didn’t do anything. His throat hurt and he knew it wasn’t just his lungs, but his windpipe also.

Tears blurred his eyes, but he shut them tightly to avoid crying. Crying wasn’t going to help him, not even the slightest; he’d just have to take it until somehow his ribs snapped back in the right place, perhaps his windpipe too, or his lungs would get a kick of his magic that always seemed to work too slowly. He felt sharp stings in his head, his brain felt like it would explode.

His legs convulsed, kicking around while his hands tried doing _something_ about this throat and lungs. He had barely even moved his fingers when a burning pain pulsated through them. He wanted to scream, but he had no air and black spots danced before his eyes. The light that he had seen disappeared behind the blackness.

Then in that blackness, flashes came. Light, dark, hot, cold. He saw a flash of white light, flashes of red. Blood, the streaks of red. His jailers were back laughing at him. But there was someone else too – someone even worse. Pale, wrinkled face, dead eyes, no nose, white hair, long fingers. Red and white swirled around him, hurting him. The voices were a memory, he knew that, but he couldn’t help but be scared. He heard an echo of screaming; his own voice. His own screaming.

Then, out of nowhere, he was guided back to the fragile state between sleep and wakefulness by something being placed over his nose and mouth – and the sudden flow of oxygen. He could breathe, god he could breathe! It was difficult still, but he felt a hand press down on this throat slightly, pushing at his windpipe and after a soft nudge he felt a small sort of crack. It was as if that person had pushed it back where it belonged because he could _breathe_ , he could take deep breaths without too much struggle.

“Shh, you’re alright,” a voice soothed. It was nothing like the voices of his jailers, nothing like the harsh laughs and yells he had heard for over two years. It was something far gentler. “Just breathe. It’s alright.”

He did what the voice said, taking breaths; one by one. In and out, in and out, in and out. The supply of oxygen didn’t seem to end, it wasn’t suddenly pulled away or replaced with some poisonous gas or a sedative. It was just clean oxygen and it felt amazing. The light in the room was dimmed, but he saw the black spots in the edges of his vision slowly disappear.

Someone was smoothing down his brow with their thumb, back and forth, back and forth, a grounding motion that reduced his headache and kept the voices, the bad memories, at bay. He lay perfectly still, because he was worried that if he’d move the person would go away. He didn’t know who it was, not yet, but he did know he didn’t want to be alone. He had been alone for so long. And now finally, _finally_ there was a person who kept him company, but without hurting him. The contrary even, this person was caring for him, helping him.

His eyes began to droop, blinking low. He heard a soft shushing again. Telling him to rest, that it was alright. His eyes drooped more until they eventually closed and he was pulled back into a deep sleep.

   

When he awoke again, he finally was able to open his eyes without it being because of nightmares and a lack of air. A sudden whiteness attacked his eyes, too bright, headache came up and he closed them fast again. He wasn’t ready for this.

“Oh shit, I’m sorry,” the voice said. The same voice as had shushed him after his nightmare, the one that gave him oxygen, the one he had heard in his cell the moment he was rescued. He still didn’t recognize the voice, he had heard it before the cell, somewhere… but where? He didn’t know. He couldn’t have heard the voice a lot of times. The person could practically be a stranger. But why would a stranger take him away and not hurt him?

“I dimmed the lights, it’s okay. It won’t hurt you.”

Loki opened them again, slowly and carefully, and saw the bright smiling face of… Anthony Stark? The black-brown hair, the brown eyes, the beard. Yes, it was Anthony Stark.

But…

Why?

“Hi, Lokes,” he said, “Remember me?”

Loki felt his eyebrows knit together in a frown, only adding to his headache, Stark… Why would Stark safe him? Why was he here? Was this a dream? This had to be a dream, it had to be. It couldn’t be anything else. He didn’t nod or shake his head, his expression turned plain again and he just stared at the face before him. His vision blurred a little, but blinking hurt.

“If you’re wondering where you are, this is one of my private houses. I took you here when I found you. Hospital was my first thought, but since I found you in this secret government facility with all kinds of soldiers in training that didn’t seem like the wisest option. How do you feel?”

There was a short silence. 

“Not feeling chatty today, huh? That’s okay, then you just rest more. You must focus on getting better, healing. I noticed you have enhanced healing. You see, your wrist had been dislocated very nasty, there was all bruising and swelling and god, your arm had popped so far from your shoulder… but anyway, I put it back and a hour later much of the swelling and bruising was like – gone! So you have fast healing, that’ll work in your advantage… I'm afraid your hands though... - M’glad you didn’t die.”

Stark was silent for a moment as he stared at the wall, his face twisting into something angry, but at the same time sad. He turned back to Loki, his expression relaxed and soft again. “But let’s not talk about that yet, just eh, get some more rest. I’ll sit here.” He stood up from the edge of the bed and sat down in a chair next to the bed, “And if you need anything, just try to make it clear to me. I’ll watch over you here. Don’t worry. You’re safe now.”

It felt weirdly reassuring. Though their past, Loki could just feel this man wasn’t going to hurt him. He had saved the broken trickster god and helped him heal. Loki raised his head just slightly to look at his hands. They were wrapped in bandage; wrist to fingertips. From his arm, underneath a large band Aid, came a tube that was attached to an IV bag. Loki had no idea what Stark was pumping into him, but he had the idea it made him feel better.

Before he could rest his head back in the pillow he was gone again.

  

The next time he woke up he felt better already. He could lift his head up further and he noticed his wounds were greatly healing. He wasn’t feeling like a lifeless rag doll anymore, so he was getting his strength back. Somehow he was receiving nutrients, probably through the IV bag.

He turned his head a bit and saw Stark still sitting on the chair next to the bed. In his hand he held what Loki remembered to be a phone, but he was looking at Loki with a little smile on his face.

“Hey,” he said softly, as if too loud speaking would damage Loki even more.

Well, he had no idea what his jailers had done to his ears but he was glad Stark didn’t risk it. He began to get a bit nervous though, what would happen if he was healed? Was Stark gonna throw him out? Why did Stark even help him? Loki hoped so hard he wasn't going to be used again. He didn't want to be manipulated. He had been manipulated into believing so many things that now he didn't know what was reality anymore. How could he be sure now? There were so many lies that maybe he wouldn't be able to distinguish the truth even if it hit him like a lightning. Loki remembered his own promise to himself. 

He never wanted to be used again. 

\---

Tony noticed the slight panic in Loki’s face. Underneath the bruising, the cuts and the swelling, he saw the man was panicked. Well, there was no reason for him to be. They had their things in the past, he knew that, and though he didn’t know if Loki wasn’t going to stab him in the back later, he did know he wasn’t going to leave him to his fate.

“Don’t worry. You’re staying here until you are fully back to normal. Until you’re healed and back on your feet, both physical and mental. Doesn’t matter how long it takes, I promise,” Tony said, something final about his words.

Loki still looked somewhat suspicious, but in a few seconds he was already gone again, fallen back to sleep. As he had been doing for the past week.

It was the least he could do for someone who had been through _that_ kind of shit. The day he had found him stayed horribly clear in his mind, he could never forget about that again. Or actually, when he had found _it_. Because whatever it was that he had found in that secured death cell, there was barely something human left about him. What was left could barely be called a person.

He had been awake but somehow completely out of it, his body covered in a myriad of old wounds, half healed, his body consumed on itself. Bones were sticking everywhere, some of them where they shouldn't be. Tony had felt a hollow feeling in his stomach when he saw the god’s blunt fingernails (which were broken off and at some places they had been bleeding) and the scratches on the walls and door. He had been trying to claw his way out.

He was incredibly skinny also. Probably hadn’t had a proper meal in forever. Or any meal. Not any food or water. It had pained Tony to feel how easily he could lift the man up, was barely weighing anything. His skin was pale as a corpse and when Tony moved him some wounds were pulled open and started to bleed again.

But he could probably not feel it, not feel anything, his eyes were dull and glazed, not seeing his surroundings and practically already dead.

Tony wanted to throw up, right there, right then. This had been a person, this was someone’s child, someone’s son. This was Thor’s brother. This person was someone’s family and he'd been tortured worse than any living creature could withstand. Tony couldn’t decide whether it was a miracle that he was still alive or a curse.

He almost panicked when he realized this man was still sucking air (barely though, his broken ribs made sure of that) and his heart was still beating. He was comatose, not sure whether or not he was going to wake up from it. All those wounds would have been fatal if inflicted on a normal person. A normal human being. Loki maybe wasn’t a human but Tony was pretty sure that any god wouldn’t have been able to withstand this kind of fucked up pain.  

It made Tony feel sick when he fully realized that he had found Loki in a government owned building. A place owned by HIS government. A place where they trained agents to interrogate, to try out their techniques.

He was supposed to rely on the government, they were saying their things, their little rants about how the Avengers were destroying buildings and doing bad things. That they weren’t saving much more people than they got killed. But it was so disgustingly hypocritical, saying how the Avengers did bad things while they used their government funded training buildings for something like this.

They couldn’t use normal people, even high criminals were protected from such things, but Loki wasn’t. He wondered how the hell they could have done this to him. It was fucking horrible and after bringing what was left of his formal enemy to his house as fast as he could he got so angry. Apparently torturing was part of the training of the people that were supposed to protect the country. _His_ country.

He had gone there in an Iron Stealth suit because of a personal mission. It was about getting information about the government and their programs. Tony wanted it because since the day the Helicarriers had dropped from the sky and all kinds of secret information had been thrown out into the open, it was that everyone realized a part of America’s government was Hydra.

Together with Captain America, Black Widow and the Falcon he had worked his ass off trying to get the trusted SHIELD agents into safety, because their information got shared too. Operations were compromised and they had to get those people the hell out of the missions they were in, it was too dangerous now.

People had wanted to talk to the Captain and the others, they had declined politely at first because there were people out there who needed their help right now. They couldn’t waste a second. But well… that was after Cap had spent a few days in the hospital, practically comatose because the Winter Soldier had fucked him up real good. But when he woke up one of the first things he said was to call for Tony, for some reason.

Tony had been angry at the Winter Soldier, because of what he had done to Steve; nearly punched Captain America to death. But he learned things weren’t that simple.

Later he wanted to find out who exactly could be (somewhat) trusted, and who especially not. Maybe there were more people in need of their help, people like Bucky. So he went to get the information. That was when he saw the cells, he saw the blood and he found the room.

He couldn’t help but open the door… and he didn’t want to think about the rest. After taking the information off the computers he took the god home. He wanted to go to the hospital first but he remembered it was a government supported training center, and it was Loki. It could be highly dangerous to take him to such a public place as a hospital.

After a quick visit to the hospital Tony had some IV’s and some medicine for the guy (luckily he knew some people who trusted him and gave him what he needed without asking questions). Now it was just hoping that Loki would recover. He was careful though, as he knew who he was dealing with.

So here he was, with a recovering (thank god) person next to him, lying in a bed, going in and out consciousness. Tony had patience. Though he had to say it was horrible; being called to the room by Friday because Loki was having another ‘attack’. It was where he trashed and sometimes screamed. There were nightmares, or he was just outright choking because of his crushed windpipe and his damaged lungs. Mostly his windpipe though.

Friday had scanned it and told Tony that it was still weak and sometimes it would do weird things like moving to the wrong side, so Loki’s airway was blocked and he couldn’t breathe. Tony had to push it back and it was just _horrible_. It was horrible that anyone had to go through something like that.

The nightmares were just as worse. He’d scream and trash and yell and even _cry_. Tony remembered him pleading with this hoarse, raspy voice not to hurt him. Friday warned him that Loki talking and screaming was only fucking his windpipe up more and making things worse. Tony had to calm him down. Luckily after the first five times he got pretty good at it, and he suspected it was actually helping since the amount of nightmares became lesser and lesser. He got that one a few days ago, the combination of a nightmare plus his windpipe again.

Tony had found that smoothing down his brow with his thumb, back and forth, together with the gentle shushing and talking helped best. It was a gentle touch, barely something, but still it helped. It made Tony’s stomach clench, Loki had spent years where physical touch only meant pain and punishment. A lot of pain. Almost constant torture. It was barely a gesture but apparently it meant much for Loki, so Tony would just do it.

Though he actually had to be on the clock all hours of the day, because the work was never done, he had spent many hours in this room, just sitting on the chair next to the bed, watching the comatose figure of the once so proud and mighty Trickster god.

There was no species as cruel as the human.

Now he knew that there were more aliens out there, some smarter than humans, he knew that wasn’t entirely true anymore, but it was meant to speak for Earth alone. Animals maybe killed other animals from the same species, but none could hurt others like humans could.

There were moments Tony was proud of what humanity had achieved.

This wasn’t one of those moments.

He watched Loki stir slightly, no longer comatose, but just asleep. The first week and day he had been comatose, not moving or doing anything, like he was dead. The week after wasn’t much better. He wasn’t comatose anymore but the trashing, screaming, pain and nightmares were _so_ much worse. Tony doubted Loki even remembered that. But Tony surely did.

Leaning back in his chair and grabbing his StarkPhone again, a thought popped up in Tony’s head. An amused one. One that almost made the corner of his mouth curl up. Loki would be the umpteenth stray he’d take into his care.

Strays…

Oh right, Tony had almost forgotten to feed them. Feeding was important, or they’d get cranky or worse, they would lose _even_ _more_ weight! They were already so skinny, they needed their food.

Tony came up from his chair, turning to Loki to make sure he was alright and giving Friday the order to keep an eye on him. She said she would, a hint of fondness in her A.I. voice. She had been there, watching, warning Tony when Loki had another one of his attacks. She had observed and saved it in her system, sadly recognizing said attacks in her creator.

Friday told him there was still some left-over pizza in the fridge, also some pasta and there was bread and cheese to make some grilled cheese sandwiches. They weren’t exactly the healthiest options, but Tony didn’t feel like being difficult and healthy right now.

He stepped into the kitchen room and was greeted by an adorable sight that made his heart a little lighter, lifting the heavy, cold stone that his own government had set upon him up a notch. Peter was sitting cross-legged on the ceiling, reading a book he was holding upside down. So for Tony he would be holding it right but because Peter was on the ceiling up-side down, the book was for him being held upside-down – thinking about it made Tony’s head hurt.

“Hey kid, whatcha reading?” Tony asked, making his way to the fridge.

Peter peeked over the edge of the book, “A book.”

Tony rolled his eyes at the fridge as he opened it, looking inside while exactly knowing what was inside. “Yeah, I can see that.” He took the pizza box out. It was great to see there was an absence of Post-It notes, claiming the pizza. In the Avengers Head Quarters, there was no such thing as ‘just grabbing a piece of left-over pizza’. It always belonged to someone or there was no left-over pizza.

But now Tony was at one of his own homes, with Peter staying over for a school project. He enjoyed his time with the Avengers, they were practically his new family, but sometimes you just had enough even of your family and you needed some space.

Because it was quite a ride (Aunt May did NOT agree with Peter flying in one of Tony’s suits), he simply stayed for the weekend. He promised not to take any pictures or have his location on (Friday made sure of it) because Tony didn’t want any unwanted guests knocking on his door. Peter didn’t know of Loki though, as actually nobody did and Tony had only picked the kid up this morning. What time was it again? About two o’clock, noon. Alright.

“Need any help with your homework?” Tony asked, putting the pizza in the microwave to heat it up a bit. Peter had started already, Friday helping him with

Peter nodded, “Yeah. Math’s just kinda difficult, and I’m not always nailing physics. And if you could test me on French that’ll be great.”

Tony’s lips curled up at the corners. “Sounds great, kid. You taking French classes?”

“Yeah, I mean, why not? They’re offering.”

The microwave beeped and while Peter was finishing the last page of the chapter of his book, Tony took out the pizza. When done, Peter let the book drop on the kitchen table he was sitting above and placed his hands on the ceiling, letting his foot slowly move down until they had reached the table too, then letting go. He swiftly hopped off the table and darted at the door.

Tony followed soon with the box of pizza. They made their way to the living room, Tony throwing a short glance at the hallway that eventually led to Loki’s room. He hoped the god was alright and that he would sleep peacefully through the weekend. It would be difficult explaining to Peter that the god who had attacked New York was sleeping a few rooms away. Though it wasn’t difficult to imagine Peter wouldn’t judge, that kid forgave all and everyone.

Peter flopped down on the couch, stretching out entirely and shooting a web at his books that lay on another table and pulling it towards him. Tony put the pizza box on the coffee table and pushed Peter’s legs away so he could sit in the couch too. As the kid opened his math book and started his homework, Tony’s thoughts wondered away a bit.

He remembered clear as day how he had found Peter and recruited him.

   

Walking through the street with Pepper, Rhodey and Happy, just returning from lunch, there was a certain villain. No high-profile, Avenger-level one, but just one who was fucking around with Alien Tech left over from the New York incident. He was using some sort of blasters that could lift cars up from the ground and he threw them around. Tony hadn’t hesitated to come and help the innocent civilians that accidentally got caught in that mad man’s activities. He didn’t have his suit ready but Friday said she’d send it to him immediately.

Pepper, the sweetheart and badass she is, had rushed to help a little kid to get back to his mom. She had walked in the line of fire, in reach of that mad man and while she was carrying the child back the villain had lifted up a car and threw it to her.

Tony could do nothing but watch as the car flew in his beloved’s direction. The light in his life, his sunflower, the one who could make him feel better and feel validated. He couldn’t help, he had no suit and no super strength. Never had he felt as helpless as he watched the car speed at Pepper. He wanted to close his eyes, but he couldn’t, they were wide open.

But just as the car was going to crash against Pepper, who was crouched on the ground with the child in her arms, a blur of red and blue sped by and a person stood in between Pepper and the car. The person _caught_ the car with _their own bare hands_ and pushed it away from them. Pepper immediately came up and got the kid to safety.

Tony saw a person in a red and blue onesie. The person was wearing a red hoodie with a spider symbol, blue pants, a blue shirt, and a red mask with black goggles. They shared a short look before the person jumped about two meters up in the air and shot something from their sleeve, swinging around Tony.

The villain didn’t even have time to throw something at the person as they kicked him away with their feet, then shooting more ‘things’ from their sleeve (wrist?), that tied the man to the ground. Then the person in the strange outfit disappeared around a corner.

Tony just stood there, wide eyes and a way too high adrenaline level. His suit arrived and with Friday behind the wheel she kept the villain restrained until the alien tech had been taken from him and the police had taken it over.

Pepper and Tony shared looks, both spooked from what happened. If that person in that onesie hadn’t been there… Pepper could have _died_. But Tony couldn’t say anything about it because he went into the line of fire too after all.

That was when Tony started his search for this person. It didn’t take him long before he found videos on YouTube and other social media. There were some amateurish videos of a person in that same outfit quickly subduing a thief and stopping a speeding car from hitting a bus.

_The Spider-Guy on YouTube._

He was determined to find this person, whoever it was. The Spider-Guy wasn’t very active, he wasn’t stopping big villains or doing these amazing things. He was just stopping a thief here and there and saving some civilians from something.

Though Tony didn’t have much to go on with, he still managed to track the Spider-Guy down. Tony managed to find out where he lived and he waited outside, disguised as a normal civilian. Where the Spider-Guy lived only a young, hot woman came out, and a skinny teenager. Both were about the opposite of vigilante hero types. He knew for sure it wasn’t the woman, so it either had to be the kid or he was at the wrong address.

He followed the kid around for an hour or so. He did nothing special; just went to some store to buy a sandwich and then walked around for a while with his backpack. What Tony did notice was that the kid was looking around him a whole lot of times. He kept looking over his shoulder, a little frown on his face. Did he knew he was being followed?

Eventually the kid sneaked into a back alley and Tony waited around the corner, listening carefully. It was more silent back there; he heard a zipper opening and closing, then a soft thump. He peeked around the corner carefully. He saw the kid jumping up and down, putting his blue leggings on. He already wore the blue hoodie and he quickly put the socks (shoes?) over his feet. Last was the mask, a weird, red thing with black goggles. Could that kid even see through those?

The kid suddenly stopped in his tracks, freezing, and Tony pulled back quickly, knowing that the kid would look his direction. Maybe the kid had a sixth sense or something. Not much later he peeked again and saw the kid was gone. Just gone. Where’d he go? His backpack was still there.

As he went through the kid’s belongings he found an ID-card. Peter Benjamin Parker. Huh. That hot woman must be his mom then. Tony hadn’t done a background check on the kid in case he was wrong about him being the Spider-Guy. Guess he wasn’t. Time to pay his mom a visit.

Turned out, wasn’t his mom.

Tony introduced himself, telling the hot woman some bullshit story about finding this backpack and seeing it belonged to some Peter Parker and that he wanted to bring it back, it was no effort. Her name was May, and she invited him in. Tony had casually asked if she was his mom, but she wasn’t. She was his aunt.

The next question from Tony was if he was staying with her for a couple days and she had to break the news to him that he was living with her permanently because he was orphaned at the age of 6 when his parents were killed in an airplane crash overseas. He went to live with his aunt, May.

She invited him to eat some meatloaf with her, homemade. While she got some plates Tony quickly pulled up some information about Peter’s grades, how he did at school, which school he was in and things like that.

He put together some nonsense story about Peter maybe applying for an Internship at Stark Industries, because his grades were good (they were actually pretty impressing) and this could be a good beginning of a bright future because Peter was a smart kid and blah blah blah. Tony rattled on for about an hour until Peter came back to the apartment.

Kid actually got scared when seeing Tony sitting on the couch with his aunt. He was stumbling over his words, just rattling about things and not having a clue to why Tony was even there. Luckily the kid did pick up on the hints Tony was giving him and they made it to his room without Aunt May getting suspicious.

The next minutes Tony was putting Peter under some pressure to let him confess he was the spider-guy. It was almost amusing, weren’t it that Peter was actually looking distressed and about two seconds from either blacking out or bolting out at the speed of light. Eventually Tony found his suit, he confessed, they had a small talk (though Peter wouldn’t exactly tell him why he was doing it, something about bad things happening), and Tony said he wanted to give Peter an upgrade, make him to something better than just the Spider-Guy on YouTube.

Tony Stark wanted to make Peter Parker the Spider- _Man_.

  

“Oh, by the way, I failed the safety course that I took a few days ago,” Peter said then, snapping Tony straight out of his thoughts.

Tony frowned, looking up at the kid next to him, “Why? What happened?”

He got a vague shrug as Peter went a few pages back in his math book to look at the examples again. “Well one of the questions was ‘in case of a fire, what steps would you take?’”

“And?”

Peter scribbled the answers of some math equations down, holding a slice of pizza in his other hand. “Apparently ‘FUCKING LARGE ONES’ isn’t an acceptable answer.”

The mechanic almost choked in his coffee and he felt the hot liquid in the back of his nose. His eyes teared up a bit and he tried holding in the coughs. Peter didn’t notice anything, he was busy with his math and eating the pizza. Tony was almost tempted to ask the kid, ‘where’d you learn that word?’ but he’d be sounding like Steve. And there was only room for one papa bear on this team.

“That’s adorable,” Tony said, hiding his smile behind his cup. Thinking about team, Peter hadn’t met much of the other Avengers. He had met Steve Rogers, because Tony did have to talk about inviting Peter on the team with him first. Steve had been hesitated because Peter was only fifteen, but Tony convinced him by telling Steve that they couldn’t leave the kid behind with these powers he didn’t even had under control properly. Both remembered from Wanda and Pietro that could be frightening if dealt with alone.

As for the others, Peter wasn’t a familiar face. The kid mostly hung out with Tony, Pepper and Happy (the latter not being exceptionally happy about that). The training wasn’t long or hard, just mostly exercises and finding out what _exactly_ Peter could do.

He had super strength, he could climb against walls, he had super healing and super stamina. He also had super reflexes and something he called ‘Spidey Sense’. Tony needed some further explanation on that, but basically it was like a sixth sense that warned him about danger before it happened. It had warned him when Tony had been following him when they hadn’t met yet.

Peter shut his math book and sighed, “Done.”

Tony gave him a pat on the back, “Didn’t seem like you needed my help for that. What do you want to do now? Your choice.”

The kid shrugged. “I don’t know. You could test me on French? Please?”

Of course Tony nodded and Peter sped off to find his backpack with his books. Tony leaned back on the couch, waiting for the kid to come back when the voice of his loyal A.I sounded through the room, only this room, so Peter couldn’t hear it. Tony sat up immediately.

“Boss, it’s happening again,” Friday said, her voice holding an undertone of… _distress_.

Tony didn’t need to think twice what she was talking about and he rushed into that certain hallway, running to the end and practically busting through the door Friday had already unlocked for him. It didn’t seem like Loki was choking, like he had before. He was just shaking, kicking his legs a bit and his breathing was way too fast and shallow. Oh god, not again. Tony hated it when it happened, not because he didn't want to help or anything, but because it seemed so damn painful and terrible for _Loki_. 

"Shhhhh Lokes," Tony shushed, knowing that he was doing little good. When Loki got like this it was just something he had to work through.

He brushed back the black hair from Loki’s sweat covered forehead. Loki’s eyes opened, but he wasn’t awake, not yet. Tony knew that the wild look in his eyes meant that he wasn’t seeing him, but instead whatever horror-torture his mind was forcing him to live through.

Tony started to softly shush him, smoothing down his brow up and down, again and again. Tony wasn’t sure if Loki had headaches and the smoothing helped or something like that, or why that particular movement calmed him down so much.

The fog started to lift slightly from his eyes and Tony could see recognition come in and out. It was always like that at first. Loki would be back at that horrible place, or whatever other nightmares he had, and he would have no idea he was safe, it was too real.

Tony wondered if gods had more vivid dreams, if their thoughts were clearer, their memories easier to remember. It would make sense, because Thor sometimes talked about things he did as a kid which had to be at least 800 years ago.

Tony swallowed thickly. His dreams felt real too, but after he had woken up they were blurry images, distant voices, the feeling was there but his memories were shredded. It was how the human brain worked, memories faded and as time passed Tony slowly started to remember things less clear, his brain was pushing those things away. He was so immensely grateful for that. They would never go away entirely, especially the feeling, but after years and many hours of therapy it became slightly easier to deal with.

Loki was a master liar, people said.

And there was this quote that had always stuck in Tony’s head, something Abraham Lincoln said, ‘No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar’.

Loki was a successful liar. Thor said he could make things up until in the details, and he remembered what he had said to avoid getting caught saying the wrong thing. Loki had a good memory, and Tony feared that would be his curse right now.

He was still gently shushing the god, making sure Loki didn’t claw at his throat and hurt himself. Loki’s eyes were still open, not quite awake, but he was there. He wasn’t exactly seeing Tony, but Tony was sure Loki could hear him.

So he soothed gently, speaking soft and saying the usual words when someone, anyone, was having a bad dream or was just having a bad episode. Mostly something on the line of, ‘You’re okay. It’s okay. I’m not gonna hurt you. You’re safe. They can’t hurt you. Nobody is going to hurt you. I’ll protect you.’

Eventually it seemed to help. Loki’s breathing became even and he stopped trembling like a leaf. His eyes closed and Tony assumed Loki had just fallen asleep again. He still continued the same routine for about a minute or two, just to be sure, until all his vitals had turned back to normal. He had found Loki about two weeks ago, so he guessed maybe it would take him another week to recover. Maybe longer, maybe shorter, he didn’t know.

He couldn’t stay away for too long or Peter would get suspicious, the kid had probably found his books yet, so he walked out the room and closed the door behind him, it automatically locking. As he turned around he almost got a heart attack.

“Peter!” Tony cried out.

The kid was staring past him, curiously looking at the door. “What is in there?” he asked, his brown eyes then settling on Tony.

“Nothing, it’s something personal. Don’t worry about it,” Tony said, hoping that his voice would be indicating that Peter shouldn’t go in there. The kid seemed to pick up on it as he nodded and they made their way back to the living room together.

What Tony didn’t see, was that Peter threw a last glance at the door, his eyes still standing curious and his brain already formulating a way to get inside that room. He wouldn’t if Tony told him not to go into that room, but since Tony hadn’t said that, it’s Free Real Estate.

    

* * *

    

When Peter was in bed, deeply asleep after a long day of working and playing in the lab, Tony found himself walking through that certain hallway to the room at the end of it.

There was a huge feeling of relief when Tony walked into the room and saw Loki _awake_ for a change, quietly lying there. He didn’t say anything, just lay there.

His wounds were healing fine over time and Tony was glad to see the life returning in the Loki’s eyes. His eyes were very expressive. They had been so dead and now they came back to life. Also, they had stood terrified the first time Tony had tried to have an actual conversation with him, like Tony was going to hurt him. But no good sir, no way in the world Tony was gonna do that. No way.

When Loki was awake he was mostly just silent, staring at the ceiling with a hollow look in his eyes. Tony remembered seeing that look before. In the eyes of some of his teammates, but also elsewhere.

Tony had snatched a file from the building he had found Loki in, it was on the USB stick where he had also put on the other information he had gathered over the years.

He still had a copy of that info, might as well read them. He had looked through the files, found one about their prisoners, clicked onto which seemed to be Loki’s and he found a list with documentation about what they had done to him.

The next hours had been spent staring at a wall, kneading in a stress ball and in silence, all alone with his thoughts and all that was on that list playing before his eyes.

The horror, the pain and the humiliation Loki had been through was something Tony had not seen before. Barnes had quite the list of shit that had been done to him as well but he, Tony now realized, had been lucky as he still had some form of _use_. Loki hadn’t. He wasn’t good for anything but to practice torture on. So they hadn’t shied away from doing whatever the hell they wanted.

And then the stress, Tony couldn’t imagine the stress Loki had gone through. Knowing that at each and every part of the day his jailers could come in to do God knows what to him. Knowing that nobody would come and save him, knowing that he would have to endure this for so much longer. It must have been hell.

He had carefully told Loki that he knew what happened; he had read the files. Loki hadn’t reacted. His heartbeat had fastened and for a moment Tony was worried Loki would slip into a panicked state again. It didn’t happen, but the trickster wasn’t alright either.

Because the kid was to bed and Tony didn’t have anything else to do, he sat down in the chair next to the bed. He pulled his StarkPhone from his pocket and looked at some work. He wasn’t going to urge Loki into talking, he wasn’t even entirely sure if Loki was really awake. Neither of them said anything. Maybe Loki was scared. Maybe he was still half asleep. Maybe he didn't want to talk. Tony didn't know. 

He did know that he would just wait and make Loki made the decision on his own. Give him back the power over his own life, like it was supposed to be. 

“Why are you helping me?”

The voice had been soft and quiet, a little raspy even, and Tony suspected it came from a lack of using, but it was also familiar. He looked up from his StarkPhone and turned his head at the god. Loki’s eyes were opened, they were still glassy and his green irises were still too pale, but they looked somewhat better.

Tony stumbled a bit over his words, not entirely sure what to do with this sudden question though he knew it was inevitable. "I uh - you were in trouble and I thought-"  
God, this was so NOT what Tony wanted to say! 

He wanted to answer again, better this time, but Loki cut him off. “Is it only to make amends for something you perceive as wrong?”

So Loki hadn’t spoken before (except for screaming and pleading in his nightmares) and had been barely conscious, but he still observed and apparently he had no trouble putting a few things together. Loki kept talking, likely because Tony hadn’t really offered a word in return

“You know what I did. Why endure my presence any longer and not throw me to a cell you can approve of?”

Tony put the StarkPhone down entirely. Loki came up a little, a pained expression on his face and Tony wanted to reach out and help him so badly, but he didn’t. He thought it was better not to. He didn’t want to scare the other. Loki sat up in the bed, his hands in his lap and his eyes trained on the person in the chair.

“Because I don’t want to,” Tony said, leaning with his chin on his fist. The words, his speech, came back to him now. “Turns out I’ve developed some sort of Nightingale syndrome looking after you, can you believe it?” Tony had something like a grin on his face, but Loki just kept looking at him like a sad, kicked puppy. The shoulders down, chewing slightly on the bottom lip and these sad, pale eyes.

“Well that, and…” Tony sighed, “It’s just… even the _thought_ of bringing you back there, throwing you to the wolves again… It hurts, and it’s just plain _wrong_. After all the shit that has been done to you, I can’t do that. That would make me no better than them. So you’re staying here.”

Loki's eyes widened slightly. Tony thought that must hurt, with the many bruises. 

“While you heal, and after. The only requirement I have is that you don't go against us or against our world, of course. But I guess… we have multiple members in our team who also started in the other side, and giving them a chance has made our team better. It has made the world a little bit better.”

Loki didn’t seem convinced, he hunched into himself and started pulling the sleeve of the pajama Tony had given him. Given him while he was still asleep. “I did… bad things. And I don’t want to drag you into that. You saved my life – and I don’t want to sound ungrateful! But I – I shouldn’t…  You know what I did. Why are you still helping me? If you want me to leave I can do that.”

Tony leaned forward to rest his arms on his knees. “I think you understand where I’m coming from. About the whole New York thing, where you lead an army of aliens onto Earth and wanted to rule this planet.”

Loki dropped his head, shoulders tensed, but he gave a small nod and Tony continued. “But the world is filled with people who were offered a second chance, to prove themselves, to right their wrongs. I think you deserve it too. Half of our team exists from people who were at the bad side at first, and some of them have done some… nasty things. And I just – I have the feeling that we didn’t get your whole story. I’ve been thinking about it, and there’s just so many gaps, so many things I don’t understand.”

“I was the fool,” Loki said, not looking up. His fingers pulled at his sleeve, tugging them over his deeply scarred hand. “I believed what wasn't true, and I refused to believe what was. People got hurt and when I finally realized what I was doing… It was way too late. I did all the bad things and I– I–” Loki raised his head to look back into Tony’s eyes, “There’s _no_ excuse for what I’ve done. That what those men did to me – it was no worse than what I did myself. I don’t deserve this.”

A silence fell between the two men. Tony was watching Loki carefully while the other was actively trying to avoid Tony’s searching eyes. But from what he could see was sparkled with tears.

Loki whispered, breaking the silence, carefully pronouncing each syllable, “But for what I’ve done, I am _so_ sorry.”

\---

Regret washed over Loki like the long slow waves on a shallow beach. Each wave was icy cold and sent shivers feeling like needle points down his spine. He had destroyed a city, killed people. It felt so foreign to him now, he couldn’t understand how he had once _wanted_ to do such a thing.

How he longed to go back and take a different path, but now that was impossible. There was no way back. There was no way to make it right. The remorse would eat at him every day of his life. He envied the pebbles, hard and lifeless, unable to feel the torments of life.

He felt so small under Stark's stare. He wanted to disappear through a crack in the ground and never resurface again. Something like death. Death sounded so harsh and scary, so dramatic. But he just wished for the pain to stop, the guilt to go away and to just sleep forever. Stay in a comatose state where he was nowhere and where things as time and space didn't matter anymore. Where he had no knowledge of the world, or of anything. 

But he wasn't death nor in a coma. He was sitting on a bed and Stark was looking at him. He wasn't even looking angry, more neutral. 

The rain ticked on the window of the room. 

Loki swallowed, his adam’s apple bobbing up and down and the tightness in his throat acted up again. “I have done bad things in the past and I understand if you are angry. You have the right to be angry after all I have done.”

Loki’s nails dug in his sleeve-covered arm (and Tony felt the urge to gently grab it to make him stop, he didn’t do it). “I cannot undo it, but,” yet another trembling breath. He hated that he couldn’t breathe right yet. Stark must have seen the bruises on his throat. “But… I just don't know. All I can do is try. I want to try, I want to try so, _so_ badly.”

Brown eyes locked with green.

“I want to be better, I want to _try_ ,” Loki confessed and held Stark’s eyes as he said it. A vulnerable position because while his bright, green eyes were pretty in the view of many he had been cursed with eyes that were a little too expressive. One could see everything like this. The sincerity, the uncertainty, probably every bit hurt had been going through over the past years.

“ _Please_.”

He could see the shift in Stark’s eyes. He could feel his own sting and he fought so hard to keep the tears back. He didn’t want to cry. He was going to man up a bit and take whatever would be thrown at him. He wasn’t sure if he could handle rejection, he would certainly not be able to be subjugated to more days in prison. He wouldn’t live through that.

He had been broken down to nothing, now with Stark’s help and care he was slowly built back up again, but the wrong words could undo all the hard work and Loki would be right back to nothingness. Just his numb state of constant fear and guilt.

Stark didn’t respond right away, but it didn’t take long before he groaned, scrubbing a hand over his face. “Damn you and your expressive puppy eyes.”

Loki made himself a bit smaller. He wasn’t sure whether Stark was joking or not. He wasn’t sure about anything right now. Only that he was scared. And that he was tired, again. He had been doing nothing but sleeping for like a week or two but after such a short conversation he was tired again.

Stark chuckled a bit.

“I can’t believe I’m going to make you an Avenger.”

Loki cocked his head to the side just slightly, his eyes finding Stark’s again. He was still unsure what was meant, if it was honest or just… He took a tiny breath, “I beg your pardon?”

Stark chuckled again, though he looked everything but cheery. “I know it must sound weird for you, but I have seen your files–”

Loki’s couldn’t stop that one tear from slipping the corner of his eye. Stark had read the files. He already knew that but it was still terrible. He knew. He knew what had happened to Loki. He roughly wiped his cheek.

“-it’s what I’m gonna do,” Stark continued.

You... don’t have to.”

“Nah, I’m gonna.”

“I don’t understand.”

Stark shifted a bit on the bed. “Because you know, you were in trouble, some high-level trouble involving the worst and most…” Stark’s eyes hardened for a moment, “fucking messed up torture I’ve ever seen, and that’s not something I’d let anyone suffer through. No one. So that includes you.”

They both took a moment to take a breath.

Stark then continued, “Besides, you wouldn’t be the first stray I’d adopt or take care of out of nowhere. I'm talking about Brucie, m’sure you remember him, then there’s Harley who I practically adopted, and Peter who stops by so many times he's practically living with me. And Bucky.” Tony went quiet at the last one.

“You see, lately a lot of things happened. Let’s just say that Bucky was involved in some pretty messed up shit too. He uh- did something that was quite personal to me. He had been under Hydra’s control for a long time. There was mind control involved.”

Loki felt his stomach clench at the mention of that.

“I was so angry at first, wanted to beat him to a bloody pulp with my fists when Steve told me what he had done. But then I started to do a little research first, found out what they did to him. God, my and Rhodey, we saw the files… Those fuckers didn’t spare any details in their _thorough_ documentation. It wasn’t—” Stark swallowed hard, “it wasn’t his fault…”

The question who Rhodey was lay on Loki’s tongue but he swallowed it, that was not important right now.

Stark took a short moment to clench and unclench his fists. “Eventually Steve and I went looking for him and took him back to the Compound with us, to help him. He’s actually an okay guy, you know? He doesn’t say much but still. He’s nice. He apologizes a lot too, looks at me with a similar set of puppy eyes as you put up. The ones with all the sadness, pain and so _darn_ _much_ guilt. I mean, what am I _supposed_ to do? Just ignore your pain and drown in my own?

“You know, I sat by your bed, while you struggled with every breath because half of your bones were broken and your many broken ribs were pushing in your lungs. Because even your windpipe had been broken and you couldn’t breathe, you were having bad dreams and I was there when you ‘woke up’ from them, unable to even suck in fucking air and it’s just... I had to sit at the table, looking through the endless list of every fuckin’ thing those assholes did to you… Every bruise, every broken bone… they didn’t spare much detail either. You know how much internal bleeding you had? The amount of pain you have gone through is unimaginable. I had been angry at you, for what you did to Earth and to us, I wanted you to pay for what you had done but I most certainly didn’t mean this.”

Tony wiped his face with both hands. “I didn’t even read the whole list, stopped at the backside of the second page. There was still one page left, one sided, but I couldn’t. I just couldn’t.”

“Is that why you want to help me? Out of pity?”

Stark regarded him for a moment. “Never. I don’t act out of pity because I know I hate it myself. I do things for a reason. The fucked up things that have been done to you are my reason. I’d never let that happen to anyone and let the people who did it get away with it.”

“I did bad things.”

“On our team are at least three assassins from which one had killed a lot of SHIELD agents and we got two people on our team who had been hell bound to kill me at first. You ain’t the first and you’re certainly not the last. But you look exhausted and every second we talk you look paler and paler. I don’t want you to pass out and keel over. You should take some more rest.”

Stark came up and grabbed the sheets of the bed, laying a gentle hand on Loki’s shoulder to make him lay back down. Loki complied and Stark pulled the sheets up to just below his shoulders. _(For Tony, it was a weird thing to do. He remembered his own mom doing it when he was a child but since his parents were gone a lot that didn't last long either. Suddenly the mechanic wondered if Loki's mom had ever done that. Or was that something humans did?)_.

“How – what about Thor?”

There was a silence and Loki was looking at Stark hopefully. He wanted to see his brother, he really did. But if Thor didn’t want to see _him_ , he could live with that too. He wouldn’t blame him after the many back-stabbing. After the terrible brother he had been.

“You remember the rain of the past three years?”

“I have only heard it the last week or two, but yes?”

“He misses you.”

  


	7. After The Darkness Comes The Light, Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's talk some more, meet the Spider Child, watch Frozen and talk to Thor. 
> 
> A lot is happening, hold on to your wigs and make some tea.

Tony and Loki were sitting on the bed, chatting a bit. It was mostly Tony talking because Loki preferred listening, and because the god didn’t have anything to talk about. Tony blabbed away about the new inventions that had been done, green energy, new TV-shows and movies that had come out, things that happened in general.

Turned out, Loki could be witty and cocky when he felt like it, when he felt at _ease_. Tony visited Loki as many times a day as he could, talking with Loki for about half an hour before he had to go back to make sure Peter wasn’t getting lonely or suspicious.

But the teenager didn’t seem to have any troubles with it; he was enjoying himself in Tony’s lab (sadly his robots weren’t here, DUM-E and U were at the Avengers Head Quarters lab because that was where Tony spent most of his time), but he still had fun with cars and old inventions of Tony’s. So sometimes the half hour could expand to an hour.

Loki and Tony both enjoyed this little game where they’d just say things and then see what was coming out. Tony tried to throw in jokes, loosening Loki up because an at ease Loki was much more fun than an anxious Loki. He could tell that in the two days he had actually been talking to the guy because Loki’s mood changed as fast as a girl changed clothes.

One time he was relaxed when Tony chatted about the newest Disney movies they just _had_ to watch together, but when Tony visited again, an hour or two later, Loki seemed nervous and was almost constantly pulling his sleeve over his hand.

Tony didn’t judge.

It was Sunday now, somewhere in the late noon, not quite yet dinner time. Peter was in the lab, messing with an old car engine. Somehow Loki’s and Tony’s conversation had jumped to women. 

"The truth is a lot of girls like me, because let’s face it, I’m pretty adorable," Tony said, or more like bragged.

Loki huffed, his green eyes focused on Tony and _god_ they were _so_ _green_. Tony wished to see the trickster without all the bruises and swelling. The swelling mostly on places were his bones had been broken but he still had a dark bruise ringing his eye and on his temple.

And then there were the bruises on his throat which were just horrible. Not horrible to look at, more like horrible as in when you realize what must have happened. His hands were still fucked up ten ways to hell but at least they were healing. Tony got a bit angry by just looking at them. What monster would want to put someone’s hands in fucking acid?!

And Loki looked way better after the shower he got this morning. He got some shampoo and some conditioner for that greasy-looking hair and some new clothes. He was wearing sweatpants that actually were a bit too short for him (because damn Loki had some long legs), so his ankles were exposed and he was wearing a large shirt he had borrowed from Tony.

Yes, Tony had seen Loki before. But for some reason he looked different now. It could be the years that had passed, or the fact Loki was relaxed now, not stressed out twenty-four-seven. Maybe because he had never been this clean before. Or maybe because this was the first time Tony actually _looked_ at the god, actually _observed_.

He had pale skin which made the green eyes stand out even more. Plus his lashes were long and dark and his hair was pretty, especially when it was properly showered and after that haircut. At first Loki had this long strands falling past his shoulders (super greasy too, but luckily the honey-lavender shampoo had fixed that) but now he had cut it off till just above his shoulders. It was still long but looked a whole lot better now.

“You like what you see?” Loki asked, leaning back a little with a hint of amusement on his face. Good, amusement was good. And Tony had forgotten about this guy’s accent. He couldn’t quite place it but if he had to choose it would be British. It sounded like a British accent.

"What? Tony appreciates not girls only. It rhymes ‘cause it’s true."

He actually got a breathy chuckle and Tony wanted to fist bump the air. Damn yes, he was rocking this! Though that sentence was kinda awkwardly constructed. There just weren’t many things that rhymed with Tony.

“You don’t look bad yourself,” Loki said, tucking some hair behind his ear.

“Sorry man, I’m taken. Happy with ma girl, Pepper. But I’ll tell you something, if we ever break up I’m sure to come to you, alright?”

Loki chuckled again and shook his head with this goofy grin on his face. “Well, I would not say you are _that_ great,” he teased.

"You’re probably right,” Tony sighed. It was meant of a joke but Loki’s grin disappeared and he looked terribly self-conscious. Tony felt a sting inside and quickly looked for the words to say.

“No no no no no, I didn’t mean it like that! You didn’t insult me don’t worry! It’s just that I’m a B-plus. My whole life, I was hoping to be an A, and I’m a B-plus. And I’m okay with that. I know that I’m not perfect but I’m happy with who I am! Let’s jump to another topic… eh… What do you say about… I mean, we can talk about other things, like green energy… or…"

“What did you mean when you said you felt like you did not get my whole story?” Loki cut in.

Oh.

They were going to talk about that.

Tony tapped his finger on his knee, thinking deeply. “Well…” he started slowly. “Uhm, where do I start? You see, Thor has been hanging around with us for a long time. He misses you, as you know. He both wants to get everything off his chest, but he also doesn’t want to talk about it at all because it hurts. Which is common for people who have lost someone.”

Loki went really silent.

“Sometimes he just randomly brings you up, wanting confirmation about what happened in New York because he says that he can’t believe it was _you_. He says that he doesn’t understand and that he doesn’t want to believe it was you. And that made me think. Apparently you’ve never wanted a throne before, you didn’t want to be a king. You just wanted to be equal to Thor.”

The god gave a slow nod.

“So then it made me wonder what the hell that shit was in New York. Thor repeats he doesn’t understand and if someone who has lived with you for a thousand years doesn’t recognize this behavior that sets off alarm bells in my mind. I don’t know – something just didn’t feel right. Unless Thor has never payed attention to you before, but that seems so far-fetched. And I was just thinking a lot about it. My mind keeps going back to the shitty wormhole I flew in, then it shifts to the aliens and to you. I keep wondering why someone would do such a thing, especially when it makes no sense. And I was hoping you could shed some light onto that.”

Damn, Tony did _not_ like how fast this conversation had switched sides. He had to be more careful, dammit! There were fragile gods here and even the smallest of things could set them off. Not good, not good, not good.

Loki took a deep breath, his eyes cast at the sheets of the bed, where his hands (still wrapped in bandage) were settled. “It’s just… I don’t even remember clearly myself. My brain feels fried up. It's no excuse I know; I own my behavior. So many things happened.”

For a moment, Loki was silent to look for words. Tony patiently waited, he wasn’t going to rush things and just let the god find his words.

“Before the whole New York thing I had done something else, something bad. I tried to help, tried to be good, a-and then a trigger was flicked. I thought that if I would do this certain thing I- I’d get what I was looking for, what I wanted all my life. My emotions turned - cold, fearful, anxious... I backed away at first, I thought about fleeing but eventually I stroke out at someone who loves me. I lashed out at Thor, everything went entirely wrong and I wasn’t the person who I aimed to be. I saw no way out, so I gave up. I gave up everything.”

Tony’s lips parted slightly, hoping that Loki didn’t mean what Tony thought he meant. “Do you mean..?”

“I let myself fall into an endless abyss because I could not think of any other way. I thought I would fall forever, that I would lose track of time and space. That I would slip into a comatose state without any sense of being. But nothing of the sort happened. I had not been falling for long before…”

Loki looked up to some corner of the room and took a deep breath though his mouth, then sighing a little. There was a shake of his head and he pressed his lips to a thin line.

“Before _he_ found me.” Loki turned so pale Tony thought life had turned into one of those old black-and-white movies.

Tony’s voice dropped to a whisper, “He… who?”

“We do not say his name. Nor do we tell people anything about him. He is to remain a mystery, a children’s story, a thing that does not exist. We deny his being, we deny involvement, but we must always be loyal.” Loki looked at Tony.

“He seeks creatures from throughout the entire Universe and claims them as his. He called me his child.” Loki spat it out like it was some sort of curse, “He told me to undo myself from any relationship I have ever known for it did not matter anymore. There was only him and he alone, the rest was nothing.”

“So wait, he just robs people from their planets?”

“Something like that, he only takes those who are strong enough, those who have value to him. I had value not only because of my magic, but also because I possess knowledge about certain worlds and ancient powers.”

It snapped into place at once, “The Tesseract on Earth,” Tony whispered.

“You call it the Tesseract, but it is not the Tesseract that grands power.”

“It’s what is inside, isn’t it?”

Loki glanced at him, “Yes, it is. The Tesseract is merely a container, keeping the power from being unleashed to its full potential. Be grateful Thor took it to Asgard. It is protected by the gods, for I do not wish to know what would happen if falls in the hands of fallacious creatures. Especially _him_.”

They were both silent.

Tony had no idea who this _‘he’_ figure was but whoever it was, he was bad news. He had to be. So Loki did something, something that turned out bad, lashed out at Thor, then ‘gave up’ (whatever that meant) and came out by this person. Tony guessed it had happened not too before the New York incident.

Thinking about it… if ‘giving up’ meant ‘killing myself’ that could add up with Thor saying he thought Loki to be death before New York. Again, Loki did something he thought to be right, it turned out bad, and he lashed out at Thor, ‘killed’ himself, ended up with the he person and then attacked New York. All of this had to be connected with that ‘he’ somehow. It had to. Or Tony was walking the wrong path of assumptions.

He wasn’t going to ask more about it, not when it was clearly deeply upsetting Loki. He was very pale, didn’t want to give names and looked like he was about to throw up. Tony wanted to put a hand on his shoulder but it wasn’t like Loki was that great with touches. It still made him tense up. And great, he was pulling his sleeves again.

“Hey, it’s alright. If you don’t want to talk, that’s fine. You don’t have to tell me everything.”

Tony tried to remind him that whoever that person was, he wasn’t here and that he wasn’t going to get his hands on him, that he was safe.

“You’re safe, okay? I’m Iron Man and if that douchebag dares to show his ugly face I will deep fry his brain with my repulsors. I’ve upgraded the Iron Man suit a lot since the last years. I won’t bring it up again, I’m sorry for that,” Tony said.

“No, it is alright. You have the right to ask, I understand.”

Tony hesitated for a moment, building up some courage. Then he reached out and gave Loki’s bicep a light squeeze. “That doesn’t change the fact that I’m still sorry for being a nosy bastard.”

The sleeve pulling stopped (thank God), but Tony saw that instead, Loki started to bite his bottom lip. This man had many anxious habits, apparently.

“You are not nosy. You just want to understand what happened.”

“Yeah but… It doesn’t feel right.”

“I cannot change how you feel about me. But I can try to change how you see me. To help you understand. Understand why I did such… awful things.”

Tony picked a bit at his nails. “It is easy to do harm, difficult to do good. I have experienced that myself. Even if you try to do good, even if you try _so_ hard, there’ll always be people who don’t see it the way you do, who will ignore the good and just look at the bad. There’s always gonna be people like that, you must learn to ignore them. Because if you listen to them, they will break you and you’ll spiral down in misery. It will only hurt.”

Loki smiled with tight lips, it wasn’t even a happy smile, just the one that Tony recognized to be the smile used to hold back tears. “That which harms, often teaches.”

“Yeah, but this isn’t the ‘fire hurts so you don’t touch it anymore after the first time’ type of lesson. Even if we try everything we can… it won’t be enough. It’ll never be enough. Either we are the heroes of the story or the villains. One day we’re the saviors who saved lives, and the other we’re dangerous criminals who think they are above the law and don’t care if they drop buildings on people.”

There was a side-glance from the god. “But you do, right? Care, I mean.”

“Yes, of course we care. Don’t you think I know what it feels like to lose someone? If cities get destroyed, if people get hurt, I can’t stop thinking, ‘what if those were _my_ friends? _My_ family?’ I’m scared that the few people I can’t live without are going to get hurt because I’m not good enough.”

Loki’s hand moved to lie on Tony’s, as comfort. It was a bit stiff and Loki clearly didn’t really know how to do this, but it was the thought that counted. “It is not your fault that aliens and monsters decide to attack Earth. They should be thankful you are there to stop them. And, Earth is still here, yes?”

“…Yes.”

“Then you did a wonderful job. You are a human, a mortal. You have no super powers, no enhancement, no longevity, no regenerative healing factor, no superhuman durability, you cannot perform a shred of magic-”

“Are you going somewhere with this or are you just insulting me?” Tony asked, a hint of sarcasm in his voice to let Loki know he wasn’t serious.

“What I meant to say, Anthony, is that you don’t have any of those capabilities. And still you managed to fight off an entire army of Chitauri and me. And you held your ground when battling Thor. He smashed you with his hammer, hit you with lightning and dragged you through the forest. But still you stood firm and it ended as an even match. If you do not think that is being strong than I do not know what to tell you.”

Tony chuckled and leaned back a bit. “Yeah… I try anyway. We’re both trying.”

They both were silent for a moment, until Loki took a breath.

“My mother told me often, ‘It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop’.”

“She sounds wise.”

“She is. I like to think she means that we can be whoever we want to be, if only we try and try, and never give up. We must always go on, maybe you only take on step at a time on the road of a million miles, but every step takes you closer. And eventually, we will reach our goal.”

The two men shared a look and both smiled. No tight, forced smiles, but small and genuine ones. To tell each other everything was gonna be alright, that they were both okay. There was peace, neither knew how long it would last, but they enjoyed every second of it. It was rare, this kind of quiet.

Tony remembered what Ultron had said, it felt like it hadn’t even happened that long ago.

_I'm sorry, I know you mean well. You just didn't think it through. You want to protect the world but you don't want it to change. How is humanity saved if it's not allowed to... evolve? With these? These puppets. There's only one path to peace. The Avengers' extinction._

And how could he forget the brief line,

_I think you’re confusing ‘peace’ with ‘quiet’._

But Ultron was a madman. He couldn’t stay stuck on what he said and did. They had to ‘forget’ him, sort of. They couldn’t let him influence their lives anymore.

“I wish peace like this would last for longer, I hate that it always has to end,” Tony sighed.

“Everything has got to end sometime. Otherwise nothing would ever get started.”

The two looked at each other until Tony said dryly, “Do you always speak in life changing quotes? Where do you even get those? Www deep quotes dot com?”

Loki was so close so an actual smile it made Tony a touch giddy.

“I got some quotes too, by the way, I always say, _keep your friends rich and your enemies rich, and wait to find out which is which_.”

“Hm-mm, that is _very_ wise,” Loki answered, with a hint of sarcasm and mockery. Tony playfully bumped him against his shoulder with his own.

Yeah, this was nice. This was really nice.

“Boss, Robbie has accidentally pushed some things over again,” Friday then interrupted.

And there was the end of their peace.

Tony tensed up a bit. Robbie was code name for Peter, and ‘pushed some things over’ meant ‘looking for Tony’. Tony didn’t want to tell Loki yet that someone else was staying here too, as he didn’t want to upset the fragile god. Peter was a sweetheart and Tony was sure the love that could be felt between Loki and Peter would be mutual, but it just didn’t feel like the right time, yet. Because the God of Mischief and Spider-Man was a due he really wanted to see.

“Oops, coming, Fri, make sure he doesn’t knock any more things over,” Tony answered, “Sorry, princess, gotta go before the kids destroy the house. I’ll be back soon, I promise.”

He heard a breathe chuckle coming from Loki. He stuck out his tongue at the trickster god before leaving. He just saw Loki lying down on the bed again before he closed the door.

As the door clicked shut behind him, and he turned around, he saw Peter skipping through the hallway, right at Tony. The kid came to a halt before him, throwing curious glances to the door that led to mysteries.

“Were you inside there again, Mister Stark? What’s in there? Can I see?”

Peter tried to get past Tony but the mechanic wouldn’t let him, he took Peter by the shoulders and began steering the boy through the hallway, away from the door. “It’s something personal, Petey, c’mon, let’s get you something to eat. And be careful, we don’t want you to open your stitches!”

Peter didn’t give up that easily though. “That fight was days ago, I’m almost entirely healed. Is it a secret?”

“Yes. Now let’s go. I’ll make you hot chocolate!”

Though the secret behind the locked door was super appealing to an ever curious teenager, the thought of a cup of hot chocolate milk was even _more_ so. So Peter left the door alone and went with Tony to the kitchen.

The kid jumped on the table, something that wasn’t uncommon for Tony, and sat there cross-legged. Peter was energetic, because of his wall-crawling powers he seemed to fancy sitting higher. He could sit on a chair and concentrate if he wanted, such as at school, but he loved sitting on ceilings, on tables, against the wall and so on. It just felt comfortable to him. It felt natural and safe. And who was Tony to criticize that?

While Tony was making the hot chocolate the kid was all smiles and jittering legs, bumbling at a million miles an hour about how great everything was and how excited he was so be training with ‘Mr. Stark’ and how he wanted to meet the other Avengers too, especially Thor because Thor was so cool.

“I take it Thor’s your favorite Avenger?” Tony asked, back turned to Peter as he was warming up the cocoa on the stove.

“My second, actually. Tony Stark’s my first.”

Tony felt a lump appear in his throat and kept his back at the kid so he couldn’t see the melted gooey face Tony was making. He was Peter’s favorite Avenger. He! And the fact Peter said ‘Tony Stark’ instead of ‘Iron Man’ made him just choke up. God, he was going to protect that kid with his life.

“Ahw, thanks kid,” Tony said, trying to sound airy. He poured the cocoa in two cups and handed one to Peter. He sat down at the kitchen table himself and continued listen to Peter talking and talking about everything that came up in him.

Peter could be quiet as a spider, but most of the time he loved talking and he loved telling Tony things, like school. He was telling Tony about his best friend now, Ned Leeds. How they build the Lego Death Star together, how they made homework together and how they went on trips together too.

“He seems nice,” Tony said, “But what was that you said about a Liz..?”

Peter turned bright red and began stammering things. When Peter had talked about school he had told Tony how he and Ned sat together as many times as they could but that if they had to sit somewhere else that wasn’t that big of a problem, unless it was next to someone Peter really didn’t like (which made Tony wonder, how could Peter _not_ like anyone? How could anyone not like _Peter_? Peter could befriend both Godzilla and Mothra in two seconds flat and have them singing kumbaya on the third).

And then Peter told Tony about his classmates and about his Academic Decathlon Team. When he was talking about Liz he suddenly got dreamy and there was a fondness in his voice when he talked about her.

“Liz is just… eh, she’s just a girl in my team. It’s nothing special.”

“Uh-huh.”

“No really, Mr. Stark! She’s nice. But that’s it.”

Tony shrugged. “Whatever. Tell me more.”

“Only if you tell me what’s in that secret room.”

“Point taken. Let’s talk about Ned then.”

   

* * *

    

With a red and yellow, Iron Man merchandise, fluffy blanket around his shoulders, Loki was sitting cross-legged on his bed, a book in his lap. It wasn’t a long book, or a complicated one, but so far he loved it. It wasn’t just some fantasy book or a historical. Tony had given him it, saying it was a classic and one of the best damn books he had ever read.

Le Petit Prince

The Little Price.

It started of deep already, _‘My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant.’_

And the thing was, that Loki could relate to a certain level with the writer. He too had great ambitions when he was young; he wanted to become one of the best magicians out there. He wanted to travel far outside the Nine Realms and find out what more there was out there. He wanted to discover new species, meet new people.

But he too, as the writer, was strongly suggested to put his ambitions aside and devote himself instead to geography, history, arithmetic and grammar. Or in Loki’s case, also fight techniques, weaponry, the history of the Nine Realms such as all the great battles fought by the Asgardians, and things like that. Normal things.

The writer said that if he ever met a person who seemed clear-sighted to him, he would show them his picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant. But whoever it was, they’d always say it was a hat. Then the writer wouldn’t talk to them about boa constrictors but rather about politics and golf.

When Loki met new people, he’d ask their opinion about magic, hoping he would once find someone to be supportive about it. But every time he too was told the opposite of what he wanted to hear.

_Magic is for the weak._

_Magic is a coward’s shield._

_Magic is for women only._

So he would talk to those people about the history of Asgard or about the glorious battles his brother had fought instead of his magic, or even himself. He never talked about himself.

The difference between him and the writer was though, that however he was ever told to give up magic and just learn to be a real warrior, he studied it in secret, eventually getting help from his mom. He had great potential, magic came from his hands like he had never done anything else. He learned magic faster than any other on Asgard, and possibly out of Asgard too. He was just made for this.

_If I try to describe him here, it is to make sure that I shall not forget him. To forget a friend is sad. Not everyone has had a friend._

Loki tapped the page with his finger, biting his bottom lip softly. He didn’t want to forget his friends, he didn’t want to forget anyone. Forgetting anyone was sad, especially if you knew this person well.

He was just reading about the rose on the small planet, when he heard a creak. His head shot up at the door and he saw it was opened a bit. Not much. But it was opened. Loki frowned and put the book down, looking around carefully.

“Anthony?” he asked. No answer.

Out of habit, Loki flicked his wrist so the palm of his hand pointed upwards, his fingers closing over it as he expected them to curl around the hilt of a blade, but nothing. Oh right, he didn’t have any knives. He had to store those in pocket dimensions first before he could summon them.

He uncurled his fingers again, wincing a bit as they felt stiff and burned a little. He shouldn’t make that movement too often any time soon.

But as he didn’t have any weapons, a feeling of fear crawled up his throat and he could feel his chest tighten.

“Who is there?”

Maybe it wasn’t anyway, maybe the door just opened out of itself and nobody pushed it. But Loki wasn’t convinced. He stayed on the bed, as from there he could observe the whole room.

“Up here,” a voice suddenly said and Loki swore his heart skipped a beat. The voice didn’t come from right, nor from the left but from… above?

Loki laid his head in his neck and looked up, seeing a young human child sit cross-legged on the ceiling, smiling down at him. The threat assessment was automatic— no weapons detected, body language cautious, but nonthreatening. He looked young. Very young. He had brown, slightly curled hair and big, brown eyes. Her eyes were filled with a kindness that seemed so innocent and genuine so endless.

Much like Anthony…

“Hello,” Loki said, not knowing how to react to a kid sitting on the ceiling. He hadn’t even noticed the kid come in apart from the creaking door. That was quite something.

“Hi!” the kid said, smiling brightly, then he held his hand out, “I’m Peter!”

Loki opened and closed his mouth, no sound coming out. He didn’t take the hand, but he began pulling at his sleeves, covering up his own hands.

The kid turned a bit red and retracted his hand. “Uhm. I know it sounds stupid but… have we met before? You look strangely familiar.”

Strangely familiar… that kid must have somehow heard of the New York thing. Loki winced a bit at the thought. Children such as these had been there. Had died even. And it was _his_ fault.

“Well,” he started slowly, as he saw the child wasn’t gonna budge, “A lot of people know me, and I know a lot of people. But I cannot say I have seen _you_ before.”

The child grinned widely. “It’s nice to meet you, mister…”

“Loki.”

That did it. Peter’s eyes widened and he gasped slightly. Loki felt his stomach turn. This was it, the kid was gonna reject him. He was going to leave, call him a monster, a murderer. He was going to get angry with Loki, disgusted. He was going to leave and urge Stark to throw him out.

The child let go of the ceiling, tucked and rolled in midair and then plumped down on the bed, almost delivering Loki a heart attack.

“You are an alien,” he whispered.

Loki slowly nodded.

“Were you hurt?”

There was a moment of silence. Loki pulled harder at his sleeves, biting his lip softly. “I don’t understand what you mean.”

“You did the thing with the invasion a few years back. And now you’re here. In Mr. Stark’s house. You look bad. Were you hurt?”

Again, the god nodded.

Peter leaned towards him a little bit more, like they were sharing a secret nobody else could hear. “Did… did the bad people do it?”

“The bad people?”

The child sat back and lifted his shirt up. At his side, just below his ribs there was a wound. It looked old and almost entirely healed. “I got stabbed a little while back. They were highly trained agents. Soldiers, actually. But they were bad, not like Mr. Rogers. Did they hurt you too?”

Highly trained soldiers?

“I… think so.”

“Does Mr. Stark want you here?”

Loki felt a sting in his stomach. “I- I hope so.”

Peter was silent for a moment, staring along Loki at the wall, deep in thoughts. Loki noticed his breathing became a bit heavier and he needed to inhale deeply so the dizziness would go away. God, not again. One of his hands came up to his throat, to rub slightly across the bruised area. His sleeve slid down and the kid’s look immediately fell on the scars.

“Did they do that?” he asked, a bit spooked. He moved forward and held his hand out, but Loki pulled his own back, leaning backwards to create more distance between him and the kid. The kid was not a threat, was not a threat, was not a threat, not a threat, not a threat.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Mr. Loki. I didn’t mean to jump onto you. I uh, I just get enthusiastic sometimes, you know? And I don’t mean to be rude. I’m just – uh, well. Me. I hope I’m not being annoying.” The kid flashed him an apologetic grin and how could Loki stay mad at that?

There was kindness in his smile, a gentleness. It was the smile of one who laughed with ease and saw persons under the behavior, a soul-connector. He was the kind of person who lived how he believed people should, as if he were sunshine that only radiated from the best aspects of those he met, their flaws entirely invisible to his gaze.

It was nice. It was really nice. Of course, Tony was nice, but he couldn’t be around twenty-four-seven. He was great and definitely kinder than Loki deserved, but Loki felt cramped up. He only stayed in the same room and even when there was light and music, a window and fresh air… the walls started to come closer. To close him in. He hadn’t mentioned it to Tony because he didn’t want to be so selfish and ungrateful especially since Tony had been nothing but kind to him.

He had no right to ask anything from the man since Tony did nothing but give from the moment he had saved the god. That would be selfish. He had promised himself that as soon as he was healed he would do everything in his power to give back to Tony.

“Is that the Little Prince?” the kid called out, grabbing the book next to Loki on the bed. “I have read this one at school! I’ve read it in French, well not exactly… but with French class we were reading it and I could barely follow it. So I read it in English later. It’s a beautiful story, who is your favorite character?”

He said it all really fast and Loki was silence for a moment to process what he had said.

“I- I haven’t read very much of it,” he admitted, his cheeks flushing a bit.

“Oh that doesn’t matter! Then I won’t give any spoilers. But I really like the fox, he’s so funny drawn!”

Loki cocked an eyebrow and Peter grinned widely. He put the book in Loki’s lap.

“It’s a really great book. Mr. Stark has also read it!”

Yeah, Loki knew that. Anthony had recommend it to him in the first place.

“Does Anthony know you are here?” Loki asked.

The kid smiled sheepishly at him. “Ehhh… sure..?”

Loki raised his eyebrow once more.

“I just… Mr. Stark said I couldn’t go inside this room so naturally I became curious so I looked! No wait, he never actually said I wasn’t allowed to go in here. He just said it was a secret. I thought it was some new project, and I never expected to see a person. I really hope Mr. Stark isn’t mad at me for going into here. I was just so curious and it wasn’t that hard so I thought… It’s really nice to meet you, Mr. Loki, I am happy I did sneak in here.”

Loki forced himself to smile, something that seemed to go quite easily. “How about we go tell him together? I was hoping to stretch my legs anyway.”

  

Tony wasn’t mad, on the contrary. He was happy and relieved to see Peter tugging Loki’s wrist to pull him to the study room where Tony was doing some work. There were so many things he was happy with.

One, Peter accepted Loki and didn’t even mind about the person the god once was. If Loki started over and was a new person, everything was fine, right? Or that was how the kid’s brain worked.

Two, Loki was up and walking. Just walking through the house, without having an attack or getting anxious of every little thing he saw. Tony _never_ blamed him for that, it just made him sad that Loki made so little progress before. But here he was and it made him happy.

Three, Loki apparently trusted Peter enough to let the kid grab his wrist and tug at it. He trusted the kid to take him to Tony to show off their new-found friendship. That was more than Tony ever could have hoped for.

If everything went so smooth like this they had nothing to worry about! Of course, a skeptical Rhodey and a strict, protective Pepper were a whole different story, but hey, at least they had Peter on their side.

He had no idea Peter had snuck off to look in the secret room. One moment he was doing some quick work for the company and when he turned around again Peter was gone. Tony, a bit sleep-deprived and running on coffee, had just assumed Peter had skipped off to the lab, to grab something, to draw or read or crawl across all the ceilings. Whatever the kid preferred.

But he had gone to the secret room and immediately befriended Loki, not that Tony expected anything else; Peter could befriend literally everyone. He never judged on things he heard. He heard Loki was evil and a murderer, did he care? Nope. Because Loki was nice to him he was nice back, because that was how things worked in his own world.

Now the kid was bouncing around, telling the two that Loki could be on their team too and that it would be really awesome, that they would be the best team ever and could do really cool things, like magic.

Loki gave Tony an amused look.

Tony gave Loki a look and a shrug that clearly said, ‘this is your life now, get used to it’.

And they both laughed.

     

“Does Mr. Thor know?” Peter asked, sitting upside-down on the couch in between Loki and Tony. They were watching some TV.

“Eh,” was all Loki could say. Tony told him Thor missed him, and that had encouraged him to meet up with Thor, but somewhere deep inside of him he was _scared_ to. He was scared it would all go wrong and that they both had changed too much over the years, or maybe Thor had hate-feelings for Loki after what had happened.

He wasn’t ready for that, yet. He still had healing to do. But then there was the problem that Thor formed a blockade in Loki’s head. He wasn’t healed enough to dare meeting Thor, but being with Thor would speed the healing process up.

“Not yet,” Tony answered for him, knowing Loki wouldn’t answer this question himself. Peter nodded.

Plus, Loki realized, it was just plain cruel to let Thor suffer like this, letting him go through all this pain while Loki was alive and fairly well. Thor thought he was locked up far away, not thinking he was dead though, but he did think that he would never see his brother again. And judging from all the rain lately, he was taking it rough. Even after all those years.

It made Loki feel even sadder.

“Are you going to?”

Loki shrugged and his hand went up to his lips. “I don’t know how.”

Peter looked at him, the big, brown eyes innocent as always. Right, Loki had to ask Stark if this child was his offspring. “You can surprise him! Or maybe Mr. Stark can tell him about it. He can be like a post pigeon between you two! Then you can safely ask Thor if he wants to meet without actually seeing him. And it’s better than calling because Mr. Stark will do all the talking for _you_!”

The kid pushed himself up with his elbows, his legs were hooked over the backrest of the couch. Tony chuckled and ruffled the kid’s hair. “Of course, kid. We’ll just do that.” He looked at Loki and gave the god a wink.

Loki nodded slowly, then, “I did not know you had any offspring, Anthony.”

If Tony had any liquid in his mouth he would have either spit it out or choked on it. “What? No. Peter’s not- he’s not-”

“I’m not Mr. Stark’s child, Mr. Loki. I’m just Peter, Peter Parker. I’m an intern!” Peter turned a bright red color and hid it behind his hands. Tony was both laughing and looking a bit shocked.

“I was just wondering…” Loki trailed off, hiding his own smile. Then he winked back at Tony, earning himself an eye-roll.

  

* * *

   

Because there was a sudden board meeting Tony had to attend to, Loki and Peter played a game of Monopoly as they stayed home. But Peter got bored soon (because Loki turned out to be really good at it) so they started drawing. Loki drew some animals he had seen in his previous travels through the realms while Peter just drew simple butterflies.

Drawing like this, with all the bright colors and not even trying to make it look realistic was a thing for children, but it was funny nonetheless. It didn’t have to look good, they were just playing a bit with the pencils.

Though while Peter drew butterfly after butterfly, Loki was thinking about his future. What was he going to do? Just stay here forever? Could he do that? What if Tony didn’t want him to stick around forever? He could imagine Tony wouldn’t want that. He was a burden, Tony had to stay around all the time to make sure Loki was okay because of those stupid attacks.

“Wouldn’t it be great if my butterflies lived?” Peter asked suddenly, snapping Loki from his thoughts. It made Loki grin widely.

Scooting closer to Peter, he trailed his fingers over the drawing, soft green sparks came from the tips and flowed into the paper. Peter looked with an open mouth at the butterflies he had drawn, as they began to stir and eventually move. The butterflies trembled, then twitched and beat their little, colorful wings. They started to flutter around the paper, up and down, becoming smaller and bigger.

Peter gasped when the butterflies started to fly through the paper. First their wings stuck out, then their whole body and what had previous been a kid’s drawing was now twirling and swirling, dancing upon the air, dodging Peter’s reaching hands and weaving through the room, flittering and fluttering ever so high, up to the ceiling.

Peter began to run through the room, trying to catch his creations while loudly giggling. They left behind little trails of light sparks and glitter. Loki watched the flash and flitter of colored wings, and the child chasing them. A smiled worked onto his face and he felt this amazing high in his chest. He was so fond of this fragile, human boy who could lift buses and crawl on walls.

Loki leaned back against the couch and just watched Peter as he chased the butterflies.

 

Tony sighed as he opened the door. He shook off the droplets of the fresh falling rain (yes, it was raining _again_ ) and shrugged off his coat, hanging it on the coat rack. He sniffled a bit, this whether always made his nose run, and he kicked off his shoes to step in much more comfortable slippers. Way better. 

He threw his keys into the tray standing on a little table next to the door. It made like jingle sounds as it collided with the other keys lying there. He saw Peter’s key standing out as it had a few funny key chains. One was a little animal, another a plastic snowball and there was a photo of him and his best friend Ned in a plastic frame. He picked up some voices when he was still out in the hallway that led into the living room.

“I mean, why would we not?” a voice filtered through, deep, smooth with a bit of a dark edge. Definitely Loki’s.

“No but, you see… I don’t think Mister Stark would approve!” a somewhat higher voice answered. That had to be Peter, Tony would recognized his voice anywhere.

“Anthony never has to know,” Loki answered; the tone was amused with a hint of mischief. Yeah, Tony had missed that tone. Though he had only been away for like… a few hours. That smooth-as-whiskey voice without any anxiety and fear of saying the wrong thing. The one that just spoke his mind. The one that said crazy things.

Okay, Loki had been with him for how long? A week or two tops (Tony counted the days he was awake), and Peter was only staying the weekend. It was Sunday today, so Peter had been here for one day and already managed to have this big impact on the god.

“Mister Loki, you can’t just use your magic to turn Flash into a snake!” Peter’s voice said.

Tony’s silent footsteps ceased as he stopped just before the door to the living room, listening through the ajar in the door. Turning Flash into a snake? What? Flash… wasn’t that that kid that had been bullying Peter? That dick who pushed Peter around and even hit him a black eye once?

“But he hit you, he calls you names, he has been bullying you,” Loki countered, “and I find that unacceptable. I cannot and I will not stand for it. However, if you are so opposed to my involvement, I may have a – eh, counter idea.” There was an unmistakable grin in the man’s voice. “Let us just say the ability to perform various spells is able to be learned by many people. Such as yourself, for example. If you understand where I am going.”

God, Tony could literally _see_ Loki wink at the child, just by hearing that tone.  

“Mr. Loki –”

“An insect then?”

There was this fast sputtering of Peter, which was pretty incoherent and Tony only got the last of it; “It would be awesome if I could do that but I… eh… the teachers! They will get mad and I don’t want to be expelled, or worse.”

“Perhaps you do it at such a moment they will not be there to observe?” Loki was grinning so widely, “Children go missing all the time. Such tragic that has befallen us, we will be carrying Flash in our hearts every day. And maybe around in a glass jar because you will have turned him into a beetle. Let us see how arrogant and superior he will act once you have turned him back. After perhaps a month or two.”

Yeah, there definitely was a grin, Tony was sure of it. “But although I can say the teachers will not notice, I cannot say the same for our Anthony, dear one, as he is currently eavesdropping on us from the hallway. _Hi_ , Anthony.”

Tony felt warmth creep up his neck as he opened the door further and came inside. He grinned apologizing.

“Snake huh?” he repeated.

“Or beetle. We have not yet come to a decision.”

It made Tony grin more. The two were settled at the dinner table.

The mechanic cleared his throat while he walked closer at the table, pulling back a chair to sit down too. Tony noticed, that like most days, Loki was dressed in black pants seemingly high-waist, a tight moss-green shirt with long sleeves and a turtle neck, and green sneakers.

He appeared perfectly human and Tony had to admit, Loki was damn pretty. His long legs were stretched out in front of him, crossed at the ankle and he had one of those colorful, hard plastic cups in his hand which seemed to be filled with lemonade.

“You were not gone for long, did they cancel the meeting?” Loki asked, while his own sharp gaze studied Tony right back.

“I knew you couldn’t live without me,” Tony said back, “Maybe I just came back because wanted to lighten up your day with my pretty face. Must not have been easy without me around.”

“I shall try to withhold my excitement.”

The dry humor was a refreshing change from the boring board meetings, filled with people who literally went on and on and on and on about nothing. Luckily he had his assistant, Debbie, god bless her heart, but even with her to direct most of the questions to her so she would be talking a lot instead of a very tired Tony, it was still so damn exhausting.

He knew it was part of being a part of a multinational company (not the CEO, he was proud to say Pepper held that position), but it was just... bluntly said: he didn’t like the people he had to talk with.

There was this one dude, George Norton, he was not a fan of. The dude just seemed so shifty and not the right material for meetings like such. He looked like he’d rather be in the field, shooting people up. But whatever, Tony didn’t decide who was in the board or who was at the meeting. So he was just grateful that Debbie was there.

That remembered him to give her a raise, because after today she had most definitely deserved that. There was this other man, Ken Simon, who was just outright a sexist. He was doubting Tony’s decision to make Pepper CEO _continuously_. Said that such an important task should not be in the hands of a woman, because women were not ‘smart’ enough for that and blah blah blah. Tony noticed he wasn’t the only one whose blood had been boiling. Debbie was NOT happy either.

Debbie countered back that since Pepper was CEO the statistics had been almost exactly to what they had been before. Douchebag laughed about that and said that was the whole point. Debbie, patient saint she was, then slowly started explaining that after switching CEO’s most companies faced a temporarily downfall where their numbers would lower and they would experience a difficult beginning. With Pepper now behind the wheel, they were doing as great as ever, and that really meant something. They were as steady as before, like nothing had ever happened.

Pulling himself from his thoughts, Tony smiled at Loki, brown eyes meeting the piercing green ones.

Tony had to admit, though those sharp, observing eyes could be a little too observing sometimes, though he would prefer them over the dull, empty, almost dead eyes he had seen a few weeks ago any day. These were healthy and sharp, having a natural green glimmer and they expressed mischief and some hidden excitement.

Then Tony noticed the butterflies fluttering around. Butterflies?

Peter grinned widely and jumped from his chair to chase one. Tony turned around in his own chair.

“Uhm, guys? What are those?” Tony asked. Then he backed away as a butterfly almost flew into his face.

“They are my butterflies! I drew them Mr. Stark!” Peter called out, in his hands he held a purple and green butterfly. He skipped at his mentor, proudly showing the moving, paper animal.

Tony frowned deeply as he saw the butterfly flutter its wings, while it clearly was a kid’s drawing. It was green and red, with blue lines around it and it had two big antennas on its head with hearts on the end. It had big, yellow dots on its wings and even a smile and eyes drawn onto the head with a black marker. It was obvious there wasn’t put much effort into it.

He stood up.

“That’s a drawing, how’s it alive?” he asked with wide eyes. As a particularly large one almost flew in his face again, he let out a surprised sound and moved away fast, only to almost walk into some other butterflies fluttering past.

“Loki? Did you do that?” Tony asked.

Loki waved his hand and the spell was broken, the papers fluttered away as quickly as they had come to them.

“We were a little bored,” the god shrugged.

“Of course you were.”

   

* * *

   

About an hour later they were in the living room, the TV was on and some random show was playing. Peter was explaining the plots and whatnot while Loki patiently listened. Tony was typing on his phone, archiving some things.

Suddenly his phone rang. A picture popped up on the screen together with a red phone button and a green one. Oh great, Pepper. Ten plus on the timing! Not.

“I gotta-” Tony stood up, leaving Loki behind on the bed, “I gotta take this. It’s Pep, excuse me for a moment please. She’s really uh, bossy.”

Tony sped to the corridor and closed the door behind him. He pressed the green telephone icon on his phone and brought it up to his ear. 

“Pepper! My sunflower, how’s it going?”

“Hey, Tony,” Pepper sounded through the telephone, “I’m doing well, thank you. How are you?”

“I’m good too. Pretty good, actually. It’s nice to hear your voice again, it’s been a while! What do you need?”

“Well, I’ve been talking with Jim. And I wanted to ask you something about the government’s training building of a month ago, the one you…” Pepper hushed her voice a little, “broke in to, remember that?”

Tony was silent for a moment, _uh-oh_. Both behind the windows and from in the background of his phone call he heard the rain tap against the window loudly. They weren’t onto them, weren’t they? Rhodey and Pepper?  

“…Yeah.”

“Well, apparently they had someone locked up in there, someone high profile. Some super villain who was too dangerous to just lock up in some prison. Jim knew we couldn’t let him roam free or let him there. But when he went to check it out the man was gone. He’s escaped. And we were wondering if you had seen anything while you were there, if he had already escaped or if it was after you visited.”

Tony’s eyes darted back to the closed door every few seconds, hoping Loki wouldn’t eavesdrop on their conversation. Rhodey had gone there too? What the hell?! Why would Rhodey go back if Tony had already gone there?

“Yeah…” Tony brought his hand up and awkwardly rubbed his neck. “Listen… about that.”

“You let him go?!” Pepper called out.

Tony chuckled nervously into the telephone. “Not…exactly… Uhm…”

“Anthony.” _Oh god_ , Pepper was calling him Anthony. He was so screwed. “What did you do?”

“I kinda… maybe… perhaps… took him with me?” Tony’s voice became higher towards the end of his sentence and a little quieter, as if it would sound less badly when he said it like that.

He had to cover his phone when Pepper let out a loud ‘WHAT’, hoping Loki hadn’t heard it and would come look if something was wrong because Tony had the feeling Loki better not hear this conversation.

“You took him with you?!” Pepper cried.

“Pep, relax! Don’t yell, please. Just let me explain,” Tony cut in, “They used him as torture practice! How was I ever going to leave him just like that, come on!”

Okay… that did something. He heard Pepper taking a deep breath. She was silent for a moment and Tony didn’t push, he was very difficult, he knew that. And it wasn’t easy for anyone to put up with him, it really wasn’t. He tapped with his shoe on the floor and casually looked around his own corridor while waiting for Pepper to get her thoughts right.

“You’re right,” Pepper said eventually.

“Sorry, what was that again?”

“Don’t get cocky. I understand where you’re coming from, that’s all.”

Tony let out a chuckle.

“But seriously, Tony,” Pepper continued, “Who is it? It better not be that Whiplash dude, that Ivan Vanko, of years back who somehow mysteriously came back to life! Or is it… I don’t know. Is it Aldrich Killian?!”

“Pep, Pep honey, listen,” Tony said calmly, “Both of them are dead, okay? They can’t come back. And I promise you, it’s nothing like them. This dude, he’s nice. Yeah, maybe he was a ‘villain’ once. But he’s good now, he’s trying, okay? He really is.”

“Tony, who is it?”

A beat. “Loki.”

He had to cover his phone with his hand and almost muted the sound because Pepper started yelling and saying really loud things and Tony didn’t want Loki or Peter to hear it.

Tony’s mouth opened and closed, mind scrambling uselessly to explain any part of this situation without defaulting to the classic ‘this is not the worst thing you’ve caught me doing’. If that came out of his mouth again, he was practically sure Pepper would set him on fire. Or throw a shoe at him.

And he wasn’t going to lie either. Nor was he going to throw the man out. Tony remembered his promise,

_You’re staying here until you are fully back to normal. Until you’re healed and back on your feet, both physical and mental. Doesn’t matter how long it takes, I promise._

He wasn’t just gonna break his promise. Plus he was actually beginning to like Loki, the guy was alright. Sweet, even. In his own way. The guy was smart and patient. A little anxious and scared, but it was getting better every day, especially with Peter helping now. It was just going so _well_ , and Tony didn’t want to give that up.

So he was going to try to convince Pepper to let him stay. “Pepper, I know what you’re thinking but you have to trust me here. _Please_.”

“First things first,” Pepper said, after she had processed Tony had taken Loki somewhere, “Where is he?”

“In my living room,” Tony answered.

“In your-” A muffled sound came from the phone and he could clearly picture Pepper clenching her fists and putting up her ‘I can’t believe this is happening and I’m so frustrated’ face.

“Would you like to explain to me why Loki, the infamous trickster god, lie smith and the guy responsible for the entire mess three years ago is settled in _your_ living room in one of _your_ houses?”

“Because he’s tired?”

“Tony!”

She sounded genuinely shocked and angry mixed together in the one word she spoke. Tony scrubbed his face, rubbing the bridge of his nose for a moment and then looking up at the ceiling, his one arm swinging along his body. He was ever so smart and could do so many things, but finding a simple way to explain this? No, that wasn’t one of those things.

Fuck, he had _weeks_. He had weeks to figure out exactly what he could do. Some plan to do or a speech to say when someone would find out. He had just assumed it would all go a lot easier than this. 

“It’s… a long, long story. And complicated,” he began. Not that it mattered that he said it was long and complicated, it wasn’t as if the Pepper Pots would shy away from that. No story was too long and no story line to complicated. She could sit through Peter trying to explain film plots, and that took up at least an hour with about twenty side-plots he somehow had wondered off to.

“Oh, it better be long and darn complicated because of all the things you have done, all the stunts you have pulled, this has to be, by far, your boldest, most insane—” Pepper abruptly fell still, and Tony only heard a soft static in the background.

He almost wanted to ask Pepper if she was still there when she spoke again, “Oh my- Is he… forcing you to do his?” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Are you hurt? Are you in danger? Is it mind control? Are you being forced to—?”

“Pepper, sweetheart, please take a breath, calm down, I’m okay. Everything’s alright. I’m not being forced, there is no knife on my throat and there’s no mind control. I am me, and I am fully aware of my decisions.”

There was a heavy sigh, “Then start explaining, Tony, and it better be good,” she ordered then.

Tony scrunched up his nose when he realized he couldn’t put up his puppy eyes because he was on the phone. So he explained that on the mission he had gone on, the one with the government training building where they needed some info from, he had found a secured room and obviously he couldn’t keep his hands for himself especially when he saw there was blood on it. Very old blood, but still blood. He opened it and found this man, beat up till unrecognizable and miraculously still alive.

“So there is a person lying there, okay? And he’s almost tortured to death, been through so much pain. I couldn’t just leave him! But I also realized that if I took this man to the hospital the people from the training camp would easily find him again and since there had to be a reason he was locked up.”

“So you – you just brought him to your home?! Have you forgotten what he did?!”

“Pepper, sweetheart, my sunflower,” Tony said, keeping his voice calm, “you’re still stressing. But don’t worry, I’m fine. It’s alright. And yes, I know what I did but I don’t regret it.”

Pepper took a few breaths and Tony hoped she calmed down.

“Okay,” Pepper said slowly, “But how did you get medical treatment?”

“I have a lot of connections. I got some at the hospital. Plus I’m a billionaire, so…”

Tony was worried she’d be very angry with him, but Pepper at least took another deep breath and didn’t sound like she wanted to choke Tony on the spot. “Over a month, Tony. A _month_. Were you even planning on telling me at all? Or Jim? Your Super friends maybe? Does Thor know about this?”

“Uh, I _was_ planning on telling you, I really was! But he was unconscious for like more than half of the month so I didn’t have much opportunity to talk with him in the first place. Then no, Rhodey doesn’t know, neither does Thor or any of the Avengers actually. Unless you count Peter as an Avenger. Can we count him as an Avenger yet?”

“Tony, please don’t joke. This is serious. They don’t know? Okay. I know you love taking home strays, but this man is an alien criminal. He killed people. Almost killed all of us. You can’t just take home people like that.”

“I know that, Pep,” Tony sighed, “But he’s been suffering over there, being tortured for what? When was the New York incident? Right, three years ago. THREE. He’s been locked up and then tortured for _three_ years, Pepper. Besides, after he woke up from his coma, we started talking, and— and I think we’re sort of friends now. Plus he needed my help. I wasn’t going to turn him away. Say whatever you want, but I don’t regret doing this. He needed me. And I –” Tony sighed, “I just can’t stop thinking about what happened when I was a captive. I just don’t want anyone else to live through that.”

He heard a soft sigh and a fond ‘Oh, Tony’ at the other side. It never stopped surprising him how many different ways Pepper had to say his name.

“Tony, you know you’re an angel, right?”

Tony smiled a little, though Pepper couldn’t see it. “Or so you tell me.”

“You know I wish you all the happiness in the world. And after everything’s that happened; Stane, Vanko, Killian, the Chitauri, wormholes, Ultron… I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Pepper, sweetheart, I can look out for myself. And Loki’s not exactly the strongest magician out there right now. Even if he wanted to attack me he couldn’t. And I have my suits and weapons, so don’t worry.”

“I’m not only talking physically. With all the things you’ve been through… you still put your trust in people, you give and you give and you give. I don’t want you to give to someone who only takes, just to leave you when he’s had enough.”

Tony breathed out slowly, his chest tightening a bit. Loki wouldn’t do that, would he? He hadn’t been around Loki for long, they hadn’t done that much together, but… he liked to think they were going somewhere, like becoming friends or something like that. He didn’t want to give that up. He didn’t want to give Loki up.

Because honestly, if Loki would eventually join their side and maybe even become an Avenger how cool would that be? It would make Tony feel great because he had made a friend from an enemy. Loki would be able to help them with so much, which would be so powerful.

“I understand why you worry, and I appreciate it, you have to know that. You, Happy and Rhodey… You’ve been at my side all my life and- and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier. You are my friends, and I love you, Pepper, more than anything, I should have told you.”

“It’s okay, honey,” Pepper said, putting up her softest voice. It made Tony feel this little bit better. “We love you too, and we trust you. So I guess this once, we can let that slide.” There was a short silence. “But do you trust him? Do you trust him enough to know he won’t betray you like… _others_ did?”

She meant Stane. How could he ever forget who was supposed to be his friend betrayed him like that? And for what? Power and status. Out of jealousy. He had ripped Tony’s arc reactor from his chest because he wanted to use it for himself.

“Yes, I do.”

“Then… then I guess I do too,” she said and Tony let out a relieved sigh. Pepper accepted it, Pepper trusted him enough to make this decision and that made him _so_ happy.

“But,” she continued, “If dares to even lay a finger on you or deceive you in _any_ way… there will be no rock nor moon he will be able to hide himself from me.”

Fair enough.

“Of course. Yeah. I’ll make sure he keeps in line.”

There was a short silence on either sides of the phone. Then Pepper sighed again, but she wasn’t angry or disappointed. “God, Tony, only you would take home this much strays. I mean, Harley, Peter, Bruce, practically the whole Avengers team, and now Loki? What’s next? A dragon?”

Tony chuckled and shook his head, realizing too late Pepper couldn’t see that. “Nah, I don’t think you’ll have to worry about a dragon running around the compound any time soon.”

“Hm-mm. Sure, Tony. I’m just saying that I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a dragon running around the compound. With you, everything’s possible.”

“I love you, Pep.”

“I love you too.”

Tony almost hung up before the last warning came.

“Keep an eye on him while he’s with you, Tony, you hear me?”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re the boss. I gotta go back now, I’ll talk to you later.”

Tony hung up and went back into the living room. Loki was sitting cross-legged exactly where Tony had left him, and Peter was still with him, both watching TV with Peter explaining the plot and side-plots to the god. Tony smiled and joined them on the couch, grabbing a pillow to hug in his lap.

Peter was laughing and Loki was smiling, his green eyes staying hooked on the child and Tony could see so clearly that the god had grown fond of the child, even in this little time.

He could get used to this bit of domesticity in his life.

  

Okay, so watching Frozen was apparently ‘hip’, or so Peter said (clearly mocking Tony with that choice of words). Tony, Loki and Peter were settled on the couch, before a TV screen on which the movie Frozen was playing. They apparently ‘had’ to watch it since it was one of the most popular movies ever.

It could be Peter was exaggerating a bit, but well, it was a popular movie. And Tony didn’t want to stay behind as a famous superhero who hadn’t even seen Frozen. He had partially seen it, with the sound low and barely paying attention. He couldn’t remember it well.

Loki had never seen any movies in general. They didn’t have TV’s or DVD’s or Netflix on Asgard, he never went to Midgard to watch them, he didn’t watch them when he was attacking the Earth and after that he couldn’t watch them. So by the holy gods the first official movie Loki was going to watch was Frozen.

He seemed amazed by it, all the little pictures flowing across the screen, and he was in awe when Elsa showed her powers. She had ice powers, could make it snow and the ground freeze. She made a snowman. It was so cute and Loki seemed to actually like it.

Then Elsa accidentally hurt Anna with her powers and Loki’s face just _fell_. He looked scared and started pulling his sleeves. Elsa took Anna in her arms and cried out for her parents. Tony was looking more at Loki than at the movie.

“Elsa, what have you done? This is getting out of hand!” the dad called out, to which Elsa answered with “It was an accident.”

Tony had no idea why Loki looked so attacked and sad. But maybe… he was trying to describe what had happened on screen in his head, in really simple terms. Like explaining a movie plot without details.

_Child with powers tries to impress sibling, then accidentally hurts said sibling. Parents blame the child._

Oh.

The mechanic realized this movie might hit a bit too close to home. He tried to sign to Peter this was not the movie to watch, absolutely not, but Peter didn’t notice. Tony turned cold inside when he remembered they were calling Elsa a ‘monster’ later on in the movie because of her powers. They shunned her, chased her away, and then they wanted to kill her. They captured her, locked her up. And later Anna sacrificed herself for her sister.

Loki was Elsa and Thor was Anna. Elsa was called a monster and freak because of what she could do, her own people were scared to death of her and thought she was going to hurt them. Anna tried to reason with her sister, tried to help her. But Elsa ran away and hid in the mountains. Later Anna tried to help Elsa, who felt cornered and trapped. She didn’t give up on her sister, even though Elsa kept telling her to leave.

Anna didn’t leave. She was almost there when Elsa lashed out and hit Anna in the heart with her powers. Something that could kill Anna if not finding a remedy soon enough.

Loki had told Tony he tried to do good, it failed and people got hurt. And then he lashed out at the only person who wanted to help him. Loki hurt him. Elsa hurt Anna. Loki hurt Thor.

Oh _god_ no.

He looked back at the screen. The family was with the trolls.

“But she won't remember I have powers?” young Elsa asked.

“It's for the best,” Grand Pabbie, the oldest troll, answered, “Listen to me, Elsa, your power will only grow. There is beauty in it.” With his own magic he showed a silhouette of an adult Elsa creating magical snowflakes. “But also great danger.” One of the snowflakes turned red and into icy spikes. “You must learn to control it. Fear will be your enemy.” The spikes turned into human form which then attacked the silhouette of adult Elsa.

Loki inhaled sharply and Tony saw him look down at his hands. God fucking hell.

“Uhm, we can watch another movie if you want to?” Tony carefully suggested.

“No,” Loki said, firmly, “I want to watch _this_ movie.”

Peter’s gaze went back and forth between Loki and Tony, and judging from his expression he had no idea what was going on.

Tony’s stomach clenched as he thought about the rest of the movie still to come. That would be something…

    

Loki pulled his sleeve, sitting alone in his bedroom. He was tired and needed some rest, he had been socializing with Peter and Tony all day and that was just _exhausting_. The fabric of his shirt hid what nobody was allowed to see. All those scars, they stood for something horrible. And nobody could see it. Nobody knew.

Okay. Fine. Tony knew, Peter too, and Pepper now apparently. When she had called Tony had explained the situation. Loki didn’t mind, because Pepper seemed to accept it. But further than those three no one. He was too scared to let anybody know. Tony said that the people who knew now, only knew because he _had_ to tell them. Except for Peter, that kid had outright snuck into his room. Tony said also that the choice to tell anyone else was entirely Loki’s.

Loki didn’t want anyone else to know. Because then they would ask things. Things he couldn’t and didn’t want to talk about. It was too difficult. It felt like that if he didn’t talk about it, and acted as if it didn’t exist, the pain would ease. He was pushing it all down. It did help with the feelings he had right now, but Tony said it was very unhealthy. Loki didn’t care about that, he wasn’t looking for long-term solutions. It helped now, so he was okay with it.

He looked at his hands, they were less scarred than before. They were still messed up; the lines were white and jagged, but the skin around was also red. Tony had given him help with it; some ointment for the red skin, helping him heal and to keep it cool.

Loki hadn’t told Tony he was a Frost Giant, he was scared to. Scared for rejection. But he did tell Tony that his body heat was naturally lower, and that he was more prone to warmth. It wasn’t so bad he couldn’t sit in the sun but it did made him more vulnerable.

Plus it felt like his hands were burning all the time. But now the ointment made it better. He opened his right hand, stretching his fingers out as far as he could. The scars stretched out and that hurt. Balling his hands to fists hurt too. So he just relaxed them, his fingers bend slightly.

There, like that it didn’t hurt so much anymore.

He had been thinking about Peter’s idea for him to meet Thor a lot. That Tony was going to ask first and then Thor would meet up with Loki. It seemed like a good idea, and Loki actually wanted to try it. Thor deserved to know his brother was so close by, that he wasn’t locked up anymore and that they were allowed to see each other. He had the right to know his brother had changed, and that he wanted to do better now.

A glance outside told him it was raining again, a little, but it was. That it rained so much meant that Thor was sad and if Thor was sad Loki became sad because it was his fault that Thor was sad.

He lay down in bed and sighed quietly. He didn’t want to make anyone sad. He wanted everyone to be happy, he wanted to help with that. Maybe if he tried harder people would get happy around him. It would take a long time before people would actually grow to accept him but he was willing to wait. He was willing to be patient.

Besides, Tony, Peter and Pepper had already accepted him. They didn’t want to throw him out, hurt him or kill him. Tony had brought Loki to his house and let him stay, that counted for something. With a small yawn Loki slowly drifted off into sleep…

    

His eyes flew open and he bolted upright. It was dark, so dark. Loki immediately turned to the side and almost threw himself at what he prayed to be a nightstand with a lamp. His hand collided with something. It was pushed away and a second later he heard a crash on the floor. His hands fumbled further, trying to find the wall. He did and his next mission was finding the cord. It was so dark… too dark.

When he felt the cord in his hand he yanked at it. The light flipped on and Loki felt like he could properly breathe again. He checked himself, his clothes, for blood. There was nothing. Just his sweatpants and his green shirt. No blood whatsoever. No dark spots and no pain.

Of course not. He was safe. He was with Tony. Tony had saved him so he was okay. He was fine.

Norns, he really hoped these nightmares would just stop one day. He hated them.

Loki turned around in bed and closed his eyes. The light stayed on, he wasn’t going to turn that off anymore.

But after two minutes he kicked the blankets away and stood up, walking out his own room and at someone else’s. There was something he needed to ask…

  

The next day, in the morning, Loki almost tripped over the carpet as he walked into the room, but could catch his footing just in time. He almost swore, but then noticed a certain child to be in the room too, and it wasn’t appreciated if one swore in the little Spider’s presence. Instead, he just stuck with, “Stupid gravity.”

He heard a snort coming from the ceiling and surprise surprise, Peter was sitting there, cross-legged. Loki did not understand how he didn’t get nauseous or lightheaded of that, it seemed like a nightmare, sitting upside-down for a long time.

"I laugh at gravity all the time," Peter said, "Haha… gravity."

Loki rolled his eyes and walked to the kitchen part to grab a glass of water. He didn’t eat much in mornings, he was never really hungry.

“Morning,” Tony said, as he walked into the room too.

“Good morning,” Loki and Peter chirped up at the same time.

Peter had already ate breakfast (since he needed to go to school today), and the other two didn’t eat breakfast anyway. So that was fine.

“Time?” Tony asked.

“Half past eight in the morning, sir,” Friday answered.

“Alright, you got your books, Pete?”

Peter’s first three classes were canceled so he had more time. Tony was going to drive him to school today while Loki…

Loki was going to meet up with Thor.

Yeah, it was a big surprise to him too, but it was the best thing to do. In the middle of the night, he had gone to Tony’s room and asked Tony (who of course was still awake) if he could ask Thor if they could meet up. Maybe he wasn’t entirely healed yet, maybe he had break-downs with strangers, but damn everything if this wasn’t going to help. Thor could help him heal, he was sick of the nightmares and the fear deep inside of him. He wanted to get rid of that and this was the only thing he hadn’t tried.

Okay there were a lot of things he hadn’t tried but work with him, alright?

Tony gave him a pat on his back and an understanding nod, then began chasing Peter off the ceiling to go grab his backpack and to go. They had to make it to school in time. Tony was probably gonna drop off Peter a few streets away because neither was really ready for the questions that would appear if they were seen together, but that didn’t mean Tony couldn’t drop him off.

Loki inhaled deeply and took his coat. He was going to ride with them, only to walk from there at a different place. Where Thor would be waiting for him.

They were going to meet up at about half past eleven so even when Loki drove with the two to school first they still had time left to spare. So Tony drove them to a quiet place to just chill in the car and relax. Maybe also to prepare Loki for the conversation that was soon to follow. 

 

* * *

 

The restaurant wasn’t very big or popular. It was a go-to place for couples or small friend-gatherings. It surely wasn’t some fancy diner for high, stuck-up businessmen or people like that, but still it got some pretty unusual and high-profile customers.

The Avengers stepped by once in a while, for some dinner or maybe just a drink. Whatever they were feeling like. Now, Thor was sitting in a booth in the back of the restaurant, far away from the entrance and in a more private place. The staff had made sure there weren’t many customers today, and since it was more of a dinner restaurant there weren’t many people at half past eleven in the morning.

Now, Thor didn’t know much about Midgardian food places, especially restaurants. It had been recommend by Tony, who had been stepping in and out that restaurant for years. It was safe.

Because the owners were both trustworthy and willing enough to put up with Tony’s over-the-top security needs, over the years this little diner had become a go-to place for the Avengers for whatever they needed; business deals, dates or Avengers meet-ups.

Now it was reserved for Thor and Loki. Loki, who Thor hadn’t seen in many, many days. Days, weeks, months, _years_ , all had gone by without Loki. Thor hadn’t been allowed to visit him in his cell in Asgard, never again, and because Thor knew he wouldn’t be able to control himself while on Asgard he had agreed to stay on Earth for a long time. To get his mind clear and to calm down. To make himself realize he was never going to see his brother again.

New York was knowing it. Every little breakdown of his caused the city to be drowned in rain and thunderstorms. He couldn’t help it, the weather reacted to his mood and he was just sad _all_ _the_ _frigging time_. Sometimes he had better days, better weeks, but the bad would always come and the New-Yorkers had to carry around two umbrella’s to stay somewhat dry.

Then, after three years, last night for Norns sake, the Man of Iron came all the way to the Avengers Headquarters in the middle of the night to him, telling him Loki was _on Earth_ and wanted to _see him_. Thunder had packed and lightning had flashed because Thor hadn’t believed it and had gotten angry about it, how dared the man make jest about something like that?!

But it hadn’t been a joke. According to Stark Loki couldn’t have been on Asgard for longer than a week or two, because some files showed Loki had been in the hands of the government for three years. Three years and a month or two more. Thor had asked why, why would the government of Earth have his brother?

To torture him.

He hadn’t believed the Man of Iron, didn’t _want_ to believe him because if he did he had to believe his brother had been locked up for almost a year at first, then tortured for over two years, then left all alone and to die in some dark cell for weeks. And Thor had done _nothing_. Absolutely _nothing_.

Stark tried to tell him he couldn’t have known but he found that no excuse.

Thor took a sip of his coffee while he waited, absently watching through the window as the occasional pedestrian or five hurried down the rapidly darkening street. His coffee was sweetened with sugar, that was how he liked it but everything tasted bitter to him on this day.

He was finally going to see his brother, after all these years, all those long days. Stark had told him yesterday, that Loki wanted to meet him today but only if Thor wanted to. It had surprised him Loki even said that, why wouldn’t want Thor see his own brother?

Perhaps he was scared that Thor would call him out for what he had done, but right now Thor didn’t give a damn. It had been three years of which two had been filled with torture so whatever punishment Loki was originally to receive for his crimes was dismissed because he had received more than enough.

Outside, dark clouds were starting to gather, obscuring the sunset. It had been gray all day long, a sign of Thor’s anxiety and nervousness, but now the sky was darkening and the soft breeze of earlier was growing stronger; people had to hold their hats to keep them on and papers were whirling down the street.

When he heard it was no other than Tony who had saved his brother from that horrible place he was Thor’s new hero and he would make sure Stark would know he appreciated it, meaning that whatever he needed Thor would get him, pronto.

Stark had pointed out some rules though, something Thor had been less happy with. But it was worth it if it meant he could finally see his brother.

First of all: not jumping onto him the second Thor saw him. Loki was a bit skittish and untrusting towards everyone. Including Thor.

He had been through shit so enthusiastic hugs and Thor’s pats on the back were out of the question too. Gentle was the most important word here. Gentle.

Also no judging or bringing up difficult subjects if Loki didn’t want to. The eyes were key (like Thor didn’t already know that since he could remember), their expression would tell him exactly what he needed to know.

Loki chose that exact moment to appear, shuffling past a cheery waitress who pointed out the booth to him. Sharp eyes zeroed in on Thor right away and to limit the awkwardness, Thor waved him over, gesturing at the seat across from him while smiling brightly. Loki was exactly like he remembered from his past in Asgard, but not at all like the Loki he had seen in New York, the one with the army and the plans.

He was wearing black pants and a green shirt with long sleeves and a green scarf covering his neck and throat. His hair was shorter than Thor remembered, and less greasy, but it looked good on him. It looked healthy. Thor felt his smile tighten when he saw the dark bruise ringing Loki’s eye and the muscle at his temple twitched when he saw the bruises in Loki’s neck that weren’t covered by the scarf.

He focused on the cuts and the small burns he could detect; none of the injuries were bad, thank god, although that was mostly attributed to the supernatural healing Loki had.

“Loki,” Thor said, as the other sat down, “It is really good to see you. It is a cute little place, huh?”

Thor gestured at the place around him and obediently, Loki took the place in, that same attentive gaze now scrutinizing the space around them. Thor’s eyes remained on Loki. He looked so much better than he had looked in New York, minus the bruises of course. His skin looked healthier, he was looking sharper from his eyes and well… he just looked _better_.

“Stark had recommend it to me. It is quiet and private. We figured you would want that after uh…” Thor stopped himself mid-sentence. Loki just looked at him. Thor cleared his throat, the conversation turning awkward rather fast.

“Privacy is nice,” Loki said, his voice soft and quiet with the edges of unsure.

Thor gave him a smile and decided then to talk about more normal stuff, less personal things. But about what? SHIELD? Asgard? No, not Asgard. Definitely not Asgard. About his friends maybe? Thor felt slight panic rise up in his stomach. Loki didn’t say anything either, didn’t start a conversation, no words were coming out.

Thor studied the man for a few seconds with curious eyes. He picked up on a strained undercurrent. Maybe it was Loki’s smile, which was a little too forced. Maybe it was the way Loki hunched his shoulders to make himself smaller. Maybe it were his eyes, which seemed to be constantly estimating Thor’s mood. Was he scared? Thor felt a lump in his throat. Loki was scared.

“You used to be a lot chattier,” he said, just repeating the thing that had popped up in his head. 

That turned out to be one of the worst things Thor could have possibly said in this conversation because Loki’s already uncomfortable expression fell, that tight line of his lips turning into something insecure, something sad, and Thor realized he may have said this way off the bat. He didn’t mean for it to sound like an accusation or something negative. “That came out so much worse than I originally meant. I am sorry for that. I just thought – maybe – with me…”

Loki was about looking anywhere but at Thor, his eyes going all over the place, his shoulders tense and hunched again, his expression nearly distraught. “It is not you. This indeed used to be… easier,” he said, pulling at his sleeves, “I just— I was nervous. And words do not come out so well when I am nervous and this— you— I am not sure how— I wanted to – but I –” The words were tumbling out faster and Loki finally worked up enough courage to look Thor in the eyes that were filled with sudden panic. Shame even. “I _want_ to say things, but I don’t – I know you expect—”

“Hey, hey hey hey, Loki, no, listen,” Thor stopped the flow of words, “I don’t expect – everything is well. Everything is going well. I understand, and I do not judge. I – uh, I think we got off on the wrong foot.” Thor was silent for a moment, gathering the right words in his mind and putting them in thought-out sentences.

“Half of me was expecting the trickster with the silver tongue, the one with wits and the flirting attitude. But I see now that I should not have been waiting for that man, as you are someone different.”

Loki gave him a short look, a tad offended, “Hey, I’m still witty and flirty! It just that you have the communication skills of a cauliflower!”

For a moment, there was a look of uncertainty on Loki’s face, scared he may have said the wrong thing. But Thor’s grin couldn’t be taken for anything else than it was, a happy grin. Outside the clouds turned a lighter white and the wind lay down.

“How is Asgard?” Loki asked then, a little bit quieter than before.

How was Asgard?

Yeah… How was Asgard actually?

“Asgard is well, I suppose,” Thor said, starting off a little hesitant, “There was a little… incident about a year back, but Odin is handling it. Someone has… confiscated something from Odin’s Vault, they do not have a clue where it is or who might have it. I was not told what was stolen. They did not want me to get involved, I do not know why.”

Loki nodded slowly. “How is…” he stopped but Thor didn’t need to hear him say it to know what he meant.

“Mother is well. She misses you.”

“Do you think she was involved – with everything that happened?”

Outside, dark clouds gathered. “I wish she is not. If she is involved with the horrible things you have been through.” Thor clenched his fists, “Then I do not wish to spend any more time with her.”

“You don’t have to say that because of me, Thor.”

“It would not be just about you, brother. A Queen should never be involved in such gruesome matters. Especially not when it is about her own son.”

“Is it not what I deserved after what I have done?”

Thor stared his brother right in his eyes and leaned forward slightly. “No. It is not.”

There was a beat, then, “May I see your hands?”

He wanted to see them, he wanted to know. He wanted to see how bad the damage was. He needed to.

Loki nodded.

So he took Loki's hand in his, they laid on top of the table. Thor's look hardened as he saw the scarred skin, stretching across Loki's entire hands. The once so gentle and smooth hands were now scarred deeply. Thor gently stroked his thumb over the skin, feeling the roughness.

It made him angry, it made him _so angry_. A flash of white came from outside the window but Thor was too busy to notice. How dared those people do this to his brother? How dared they hurt him like this? This was cruel to a whole new level, this wasn't just locking him up, this was torture for fun and taking away what made Loki, well... Loki.

They had put his hands in acid, they had hurt him in ways behind imaginable. Thor couldn't help but thinking about how his brother must have been there, laid there, screaming and in so much pain he could do nothing but scream and hope for a quick, releasing death. It made him _so_ _angry_. They shouldn't have done this to him. It made a fire rise up in his chest, turning his stomach into a boiling pit.

With each swipe of his thumb over a scarred area, Thor was reminded of his failure; he hated that he hadn't done more for his brother. He despised the part of himself that had whispered to him the truth had been spoken about Loki when he was told that the trickster was safely locked up in Asgard. He should have felt alarm bells ring in his head when they told him he couldn't visit because Loki was unstable and dangerous. Turned out, he wasn't ‘unstable’ and ‘dangerous’, he simply _wasn't there_.

He hated himself for letting people hurt Loki this way, but by god, he hated the people who did this more. The anger flared up again, made him grit his teeth until his jaw ached. He didn’t want to play nice anymore. He was sick of trying to be the good guy to show he was worthy of Mjolnir and being a leader, a King perhaps one day.

A wise king never sought out war but by doing this to Loki they had called upon his wrath. He wasn't just going to let them get off scot-free, hurt people, destroy lives, then dare to play themselves up as good protecting soldiers.

There was a crack outside, but again Thor paid no attention.

The only reason Thor wasn’t over in that shitty, government owned building right now, ripping their heads off, was his determination to help Loki first. Loki needed him to be here right now. Loki wanted to talk with him, be with him. That was enough to keep Thor here.

For now.

However, if that special OP team came anywhere near Loki again with their filthy little hurting hands, Thor would have no problem electrocuting them with lighting and sending them one a one-way road straight to hell. He had overpowered many nefarious foes with his hammer and powers, he wouldn’t hesitate to do the same to them if they forced his hand. Enough was enough. He couldn’t just let them go around to hurt more people.

Thor tried to keep his expression neutral, keep the anger his own private struggle to deal with later, but apparently his efforts weren’t good enough because barely a moment later he felt Loki's hand pull away gently.

“I understand if you want to leave.”

“No, what? Why would I—”

“You look like you would rather be anywhere but here.” He pulled back from Thor's grip entirely and laid his hands down on his lap, where Thor couldn't see them. “It’s the scars, isn’t it? It is not a pleasant sight.”

"What?"

Loki held his hands up again, and Thor was again reminded how messed up they looked. Every few seconds he didn't see them his brain automatically told him he was making things worse than it actually was and that it could never be that bad- but then he was dragged back into reality and reminded that it was.

The sight of the scars though, it didn’t actually unsettle Thor. He was Aesir, a warrior, he had seen a lot of awful, gruesome things before, some he could never scrub out of his mind so he just gave it a place and tried not to think about it. He had seen many warriors throw themselves into battle only to be slaughtered like animals. He had seen heads roll, arms being chomped off and guts flowing. It was part of war.

If he was honest he would say this was mild. It was god awful because of the whole story behind it, but he wasn't grossed out. It brought up sympathy from him, of course, as well as a boat load of guilt because he was the one responsible for that pain. If anything it had his protective brother instincts ringing all sorts of bells and alarms too, just screaming at him he had to help, to do more.

But disgust never crossed his mind.

He would have thought Loki, who was ever observant, would’ve been able to tell the difference between anger and disgust, but then again, after all the things Loki had been through Thor had no idea what was going on in his mind. And he didn't blame him for not knowing.

“It is not the scars, Loki. I saw them, touched them. I would like for you to have them properly treated, to heal them. But never would I be disgusted. Not by you. Not by this. They are merely scars, evidence of a horrible happening and I would never leave my brother for that, not when he needs me most.

“You wouldn't?” Loki didn’t seem to believe him. Tony said he could be suspicious and not quick to believe, but then again, when had his brother ever? It was only reason for Thor to try harder.

Thor tucked some blonde hair behind his ear and laid his hands back on the table. “Would you like to know what exactly I am since I am not disgusted?"

“Please.”

Thor took a breath, he wouldn't strike out in his anger, even though it was not focused on his brother. “I am angrier than you could imagine. So unbelievably angry about what happened. I— Well, I want to beat the people who have done this to mush, I want to crush them with my bare hands to make them feel what you felt. I want them raked over the burning coals for their doing, burning them until the fires of hell will swallow them whole and they know they shouldn't have messed with my brother. I—” his throat worked on a painful swallow.

“Well, no need for me to plant the image in your head of what I want to do to them. All of this should have never happened. You should have been just in a cell, yes you would be locked up but that would have been better than... — and I did not— if I had just realized earlier that something was wrong, if I would have done something—”

Loki's hand reached out to gently squeeze Thor's, stopping the endless flow of words. 

“Thor, what happened to me is not your fault.”

“It feels like it is.”

“It is not, believe me. You could have done nothing.”

“After hearing what had happened to you, I could do nothing but blame myself. I have been a terrible brother. I did nothing and let you suffer.”

“Stop it, _please_. I did horrible things in the first place which led to the past events. I hurt people and I paid the price for my actions. You did not know, so you could have done nothing.”

“You did not deserve that.”

“That does not matter anymore. It happened, now it is in the past. We can never go back to the way we once were, but I would like to start over…” Loki was silent for a moment, taking a small breath, “…if you want too.”

Thor wrapped Loki’s hands in his own and gave his brother another smile. “I was wishing you would say that, brother. I want you with me, by my side. I want us to be brothers again and –” he stopped for a moment too, but then added, “And I want for us to stay together.”

There was a beat where Thor was looking at Loki with hope. _Please, please, please, please, please. Please don’t leave. Don’t go away. Stay, stay, stay. Please, please, please, stay. I won’t survive if you leave, I won’t be able to get through that._

Loki sat up a little straighter, looking Thor right in the eye. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Thor released the breath he hadn’t even noticed he was holding. He smiled relieved and wanted to say something back, when not only he but also Loki tensed up and just _froze_. All the sounds faded away around them and time seemed to slow.

There was a trembling, a rip that seemed to work through the air, through the ground, through the table… then this _odd_ feeling. Like a tremble, like coldness, sweeping through both their bodies. Thor shivered while Loki clawed his hands.

When looking into his brother’s eyes he noticed Loki’s eyes were glowing green, just a little, but it was there. All the sounds seemed to fade away around them, all except this loud ticking of a clock. The second hand ticked the time away.

_Tick, tick, tick._

Half past one.

Now Thor and Loki both shivered and shook their head. The coldness left, the trembling went quiet and the sound sounds of the cafe came back to them.

“What was that?” both Odinsons asked at the same time.

  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I'm so happy I'm FINALLY done with this chapter. It was just so much and I couldn't really put everything in it that I wanted and well... yeah. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed it and didn't think it was boring. The plot will continue and there will be some epic chapters to follow because now we're really getting started heheheh ;)
> 
> Next chapter will be Hiccup and Toothless!


	8. Not Much Has Changed But They Live Underwater

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ducks say "quack"  
> And fish go "blub"  
> And the Hiccup goes "what the hell where am I?"

Coughing, Hiccup broke the surface. She struggled with the freezing sea as the strong currents whirled around her. She wasn’t the best swimmer, but she could keep himself up if needed. If she could just find Toothless... Before she could call out to him she went under.

The waves were playing with her, pushing her against her back like she was a small leaf. She went under again. She flapped her arms like some weird bird to get above and was startled when she didn’t see the coast anymore. Had she drifted of so far already?

The sudden screeching wind in her ears, the drumming of the rain on the water and the fierce roar of the waves drowned out all the other sounds. Wait what, rain? A second ago it had been clear as day! What happened with the calm sea she had flown above before? The easy blue on which Ragnar’s ship had drifted?

Her heavy clothes soaked with water and her metal leg started to pull her down. She almost went rigid by the cold and her arms and legs seemed senseless stakes of bone and flesh that worked hard to keep her head above the surface. She saw nothing but foamy waves and the deep dark water that was underneath her, which she came closer to when she went under again. It was so dark she could barely even see her own feet. She kicked her arms and legs and raised towards the light again. She accidentally swallowed some of the salty water and coughed, her throat hurting as the salt stung.

Even worse: Toothless was nowhere to be seen. Not that she was able to see _anything_ with this terrible, unexplainable sudden rain.

Then the current pulled her towards her left and down, as if the water was being sucked towards there. Her face fell when she recognized the feeling. The sea was making a large wave. Hiccup looked up and saw the wave form itself higher and higher, and a few seconds later the wave collapsed onto her and she was pushed down deep.

She fell and fell, the ice-cold water filled her mouth, nose and ears. She sank further and further, the green depth pulled at her like a fish on a fishing rod. The only pro of the cold water was that all the feeling from her wounded side and hand were more numbed than before.

The roaring sounds faded. Light flashes shot in front of her eyes. There was one particularly bright one, a _blue_ one like that from the whirlwind she had been sucked into. It blinded her for a moment, but then it was gone again.

The water went from blue, to dark green, to black. Hiccup felt languid, too cold to be able to do anything. She felt nauseous, as if her insides were being pulled loose. She whirled around like a dead fish.

Her eyes closed slowly, she wondered vaguely why she couldn’t just sink further into the dark depths of the ocean. That would be so much easier. Then she would away from the Dragon Hunters, away from Ragnar, away from the war, away from her disappointed dad, away from Toothless...

Hiccup’s eyes snapped open. Silver bubbles shot up from her nose. Toothless needed her, she couldn’t abandon him, and they still had a mission to complete. Wildly waving her arms, she moved towards the surface. The green became lighter, the light pulled at her like a magnet. She had to go there. Her chest was bursting, if she didn’t get air she would die, then she would drown. The cold hurt her eyes, but she was afraid to close them, too afraid she would lose the light.

She came closer and closer to the surface. But she hadn’t much power left, she was swimming too slow, her wet clothes bothered her and were too heavy. Also her metal leg wasn’t helping her swim. She stretched out her arm, almost being able to touch the surface. She was almost there.

Then something grabbed her leg and pulled her back down. More silver bubbles of precious air shot to the surface Hiccup couldn’t reach. She kicked her legs but they kicked into the emptiness. And the thing was only pulling her further down. Seriously? Come on!

Hiccup kicked harder and also hit her arms around her to swim up. She pulled up her legs and tried to push away whatever was pulling her down, but then it hit her in the face. A sharp sting came from her forehead, like a cut. Great, like she hadn’t been through enough. She hit around with her arms and tried to swim up again.

But all the air was gone, her lungs empty and her arms stopped moving. She felt the current and the thing pulling at her, but she didn’t know the direction. Left, right, there wasn’t a difference anymore. Something still had her foot. With her eyes still half open, she saw that the light was ever further out of her reach.

Then she saw something else, a shadow and another bright light. A _purple_ , bright light. The ‘something’ under her in the water released her foot and Hiccup sank down much slower. She felt something grab her collar and pull her up. A faint roar came from her side and she looked, into Toothless’ green eyes.

She grabbed the handle of her saddle and Toothless beat his wings, they shot up through the water, closer and closer to the surface until they eventually broke it. Hiccup quickly placed her foot in the stirrup and pushed her heel down, pulling the nose of her shoe far up. The prosthetic fin flared out a bit and Toothless flew straight up in the air. She gasped desperately for air, almost choking on the salt water.

A gust of wind pushed them out of course and Hiccup had to hold on tight not to drop in the water again. As Toothless hung still in the air, his wings moving up and down regularly to stay steady, she was still gasping for breath and rubbed one hand in her eyes to remove the salty water. Her throat was hurting and so were her lungs, but she had been lucky. Apart from the cut on her head that was stinging and bleeding, she was okay. It wasn’t even such a deep cut, more like a scratch. Like a sharp whip.

Rain gushed down on them and Hiccup could barely see a thing. Loud thunder crackled above them and Hiccup wondered how the hell the weather could have gotten so bad in such a short time. One minute it was a mostly clear sky and the other it was storming.

“We have to seek cover!” Hiccup yelled, then some salt water rushed up her throat and she threw up, leaning to the side to not throw up on her friend.

Toothless gave a hum and then let out a low, vibrating roar, his echolocation roar. But there was nothing on their left, nothing on their right. It was as if they were suddenly flying above the middle of the ocean. What did that blue whirlwind do to them? Where did it bring them?

Hiccup pressed her foot down in the pedal and they made a turn to the right. They had to try _something_. Toothless beat his wings and they flew through the rain in a random direction. The cold icy rain pierced her pale and wet skin. The dragon was tossed paper in the storm, flashes of black in the grey, tumbling as they struggled against the gale. Beneath them the sea rose as great mountains, anger in the form of water, turbulent and unforgiving.

Total darkness was prevailed as clouds thickened and the sky was stricken, blotting out the moonlight and stars. The wind arose to push the waters to choppy, which morphed into mountains of angry waves. Thick icy sheets of rain obscured Hiccup's vision and she was afraid they would fly into something. Toothless let out another echolocation roar and kept flying forward.

They flew a bit closer to the waves, trying to escape from the crushing wind. Thunder crackled above them and Hiccup cowered. Lightning, not one of her favorite things. Thor really didn’t spare her today. Still low to the sea, Toothless straightened his wings out and lifted up to avoid a huge wave which looked out of the dark in front of him. Another echolocation roar and Toothless flew up in the air again. Hiccup held her arm before her head to shield her eyes from the wind and rain, but still she saw nothing.

A sharp tick on her hand made her lower it fast in surprise. More sharp ticks like stones fell down on her. Great, now it started to hail too?! Where was the coast? The ship had laid about a few meters from it and she should have come across it by now.

Toothless whined and shook his head. Rain they could handle, hail was just nasty. To protect her friend Hiccup lay down over his back, neck and head to cover him with her body. “It’s gonna be okay, bud, I promise,” she said to him.

He gave another whine but beat his wings down harder. The fourth echolocation roar and he had found something, land! Toothless beat his wings down harder and Hiccup could hear herself laugh in relief above the howling wind and crashing water.

The rain slowly became less and Hiccup saw little white crystals fall down on her hands and arms. Snow? But it wasn’t the time of year for snow yet. She looked up at the sky, snow whirled down and was blown in her face. Great. Hiccup pressed the heel of her shoe down and lifted the nose up in the stirrup.

Toothless moaned and locked his jaw, stretching his neck out, then he pounded into the air, making a sharp turn upwards. They skimmed low over the water before wheeling into the air. The snow blew in Hiccup’s face and she started to lose the feeling in her cheeks. Lightning came, a brilliant shock of white in the graphite sky, forking silently to the unsuspecting sea- the thunderous boom always calling its warning too late. Hiccup groaned and her hands clenched around the handle of her saddle.

Thundersnow.

Thundersnow was an unusual kind of thunderstorm with snow falling instead of rain. On Berk it happened sometimes, but even there thunder was mostly paired with rain, not with snow. Wherever she was, it wasn’t anywhere close to Berk at all. But that wasn’t so strange considering she had been flying through the Wrurora desert.

A particular bright bolt of white hot lightning broke through the darkness, illuminating everything in a flash of white light, it blinded Hiccup for a second and judging from the whining of her bonded he had lost vision for a moment too. That one was close. Too close. Toothless shook his head and whined again.

Hiccup felt their flight stagger, they were blown out of course and Toothless seemed to have trouble keeping straight. Hiccup pushed her heel back in the stirrup, lifting the nose of her shoe up a bit. The prosthetic tail flared out and their flight steadied a bit. But it didn’t take long for this position to become wobbly too. Stupid yellow fin. Why couldn’t she just have taken an extra red fin? Even the blue one would have been better than this.

Worried for her friend Hiccup bowed over to him and rubbed his head. “Toothless, are you alright? Do we need to slow down?”

Toothless snarled and shook his head. Hiccup felt his muscles tighten underneath her and he clawed his paws through the air, as if to find out what exactly wasn’t working. Hiccup took a gasp of air and turned in the saddle to look at the prosthetic tailfin. She could barely see the end of Toothless’ tail but she did see a little, orange light in the dark. Toothless’ tail was on fire. The lightning bolt…

“Toothless, is the island far away?” Hiccup asked distressed. Toothless sniffed in the air and cocked his head. He flicked his tail and they made a sudden sharp jerk down, almost throwing Hiccup from the saddle. The dragon whined and let out an echo roar. They were closing in. Just a little bit longer.

The dragon pounded his wings into the air and urged himself to go faster. Hiccup was surprised the snow and storm hadn’t extinguished the fire yet. If the fin would be consumed by the fire they would drop from the air. There was too much wind for Hiccup to fly by herself so she would probably drown if they did. Toothless pitched himself into a dive, plummeting down towards the white island below them.

At the last moment Toothless threw his head and chest up, stretching his wings out entirely to create draft and lifted himself up. She leaned back as the smooth neck lowered, then felt a heavy thud as the four ill-assorted feet hit the ground. She just managed to hold on and push herself straight again.

“G-great job, bud, you d-did well,” she said as she stepped off. Toothless whined and nudged her arm. She scratched his chin and her other hand rested on the side of his head. Toothless pushed his tail down in the snow to put the fire out, and purred as he pressed his nose in Hiccup’s hand. His rider let out a shiver, she had been drenched from the seawater and now that water was freezing. Her clothes were stiff from the salt as was her hair.

“C’mon, we n-need to find shelter before we f-freeze to death,” she said, her teeth chattering.

Toothless hummed in agreement.

Hiccup raised a hand to shield her eyes. Her fingers moved up and she hissed as the tips touched the gash in her forehead. Some blood stuck to her fingers. Not much, luckily. She had anticipated the coldness and the sting of driven snow on her face, but not the ferocity of the wind and how it would blind her.

All she could do was to bow her head until her chin touched her chest and keep walking. Though her feet were beginning to freeze and her footsteps were small, sinking in past her ankles with each stride, her metal leg was beginning to freeze and with each minute passing walking became harder.

The leg was made out of metal and wood. The wooden section, which acted like her ankle, was attached to her leg while the metal part, which acted as her foot, was hooked onto the wood. There was also a spring inside to act as a shock absorber. And the whole thing was freezing so it felt like she had to walk with a stiff foot.

Toothless tried to shield her as well as he could, holding his wings up, but it did not much. So now and then he let out an echolocation roar and looked around, sniffing the air for something, but there was nothing. Eventually Hiccup was dragging her feet closely over the ground, which caused her prosthetic leg to slip over the ice. Toothless’ head dipped, catching her fast in her fall.

“Thanks, bud. Stupid leg.”

Toothless hummed and gave her a slight push to help her up. She looked up, her hand above her eyes. There was a mountain not too far from them, well, mountain… more like a large hill, entirely covered in snow. Toothless whined and stopped walking. Hiccup looked back at him, then at the hill again. Toothless let out his echo roar and his ears perked up. Hiccup knew he shouldn’t have done that the second he did. The top of the hill moaned.

The avalanche came faster than a Night Fury flying while being blown forward by a storm. One minute the slopes were pristine and the next they were moving. It would have been funny if it wasn't so deadly, but there was no time to laugh anyway. In seconds the powder was around her, kissing coldly.

In another moment the weight of the snow was on her back and her forward momentum was no longer under her control. She tumbled over and over, Toothless roared and Hiccup felt paws on her shoulders, then wings and warmth wrapped around her. Time passed both in slow motion and in a flash, then she was still. The light was gone.

She felt them roll over a few more times and she heard Toothless charge and shoot. But then it was silent. She hoped Toothless was okay, she hoped the snow wouldn’t crush him, or her. Toothless gave a low hum in her ear and a warm puff of breath blew through her hair. Toothless was okay, she was okay. They were okay.

 

* * *

  

Her eyes opened slowly and the first she saw was darkness. Her first thoughts immediately went to her dragon companion.

“Toothless?”

The dragon hummed in her ear and she felt his tongue lick along her face. Then everything around her moved. She heard Toothless charge and shoot a plasmablast. Light shone through peeks around her. Toothless moved more and there was another plasmablast. Toothless opened his wings and a bright light shone in Hiccup’s face. She groaned and rubbed in her eyes. A blue sky was looking down on them, no cloud to see.

They were lying in a hole in the show. Toothless was lying on his side, one wing underneath them and the other above them to shield them from the snow. Toothless had let the snow melt above them, it was a miracle they hadn’t run out of oxygen.

Hiccup used her hands to dig through the snow next to them, feeling bad for having to stand on Toothless’ wing because she couldn’t stand anywhere else. As soon as she had dug out a space enough for herself she stood on it to Toothless could come off his side. The dragon used a sustained blowtorch-like flame to melt the snow around him and slowly they made their way up.

Snow.

She remembered to be almost choking in heat as they flew through a desert. What the hell was this? Where the hell were they? She had only seen this much snow on Berk in strong winters, or on Glacier Island, it was always snowing there. But she had been flying to the South, to the desert for Thor’s sake! Where did this snow come from?!

When they finally had made their way up and stood in the thick layer of snow, Hiccup looked around. Since it wasn’t snowing at that moment she had the chance to see what was around her. She saw some small hills and not too far away from her was the sea. Where exactly had that whirlwind brought them? And what was that thing anyway? She remembered the weird, blue glowing little box that had something to do with it but… what was it?

The sun hadn’t rose far into the sky, so it couldn’t be late. It more like seemed morning. She remembered the sun to be up in the sky as they had been consumed by the whirlwind, it had been a little over midday. And the now the sun was just rising. Had they slept for that long? Not that strange though, it had been a while since they had taken a good nap.

Next to her, Toothless rumbled annoyed. Every time he tried to take a step he sunk into the deep snow. Luckily some of it had been pressed to a layer of ice so they could stand on it, but it came to her hip. Her legs were freezing. Toothless could only stand on his hind legs or he wouldn’t be able to see anything. It was a hilarious sight. Toothless grumbled at her giggling.

She plowed through the snow to get closer to him and he lifted up his tail to show her the fin. It was burned through, but not too bad. She might be able to make something of it. The monster from the desert had ripped the red fin apart but maybe if she combined the yellow and red fin they could fly until they had found some steadier grounds.

She took out the fin and Toothless melted the snow around them so she had better access to his fin. Her face fell when she saw her books in the saddle bag. After Toothless’ jump into the water all her stuff had been soaked and her books were now frozen too. Well, there was nothing she could do about that now.

Both fins were broken but there were a few parts she could use. The main connecting rod for instance. And if she had a spare piece of clod somewhere… she groped about in her bag but the only thing she had was paper from her books and the rough piece of cloth she used for Toothless. Perhaps that would work. But not here. Not in this snow, not when she was freezing.

So through the layers of snow she went, looking for higher ground where she wasn’t drowning in it. Toothless used a blowtorch-like flame to melt the snow before her. He also had his wings spread out slightly so he would be pushing the snow away so she could walk easier.

Turned out it had been mostly the avalanche of yesterday that had caused all the snow, not the snow from the sky. So when she had walked further and the ground was slightly raising, the height of the snow layer lessened until eventually it only came to her ankles. Way better, it was too cold for her legs, they were beyond frozen.

When she was on a more even piece of land she took another look at the tailfin. Toothless shook his head and turned his head in a few directions. Hiccup paid no attention as her dragon did that more often, and instead she was staring at the few metal rods, hoping that they would magically fit together so she could fly away.

Just as she was about to get out some paper to make a sketch of how she was going to attach the pieces to one another Toothless loudly sniffed the air, only to let out a low growl after. A low, vibrating grumble that could only mean one thing; danger.

Hiccup tensed immediately, putting the rods down and she reached for Inferno. Her finger lay ready on the button as she took a battle position, looking for wherever Toothless was growling at. There was a hill, some rocks and a lot of ice. Toothless walked out before her, wings flaring and head low.

"Who's there?" Hiccup called out. No answer.

"I know you're there. My dragon smelled you and if you don't come out he will come and get you."

A boy who couldn't be older than sixteen stepped out, his hands in the air and his body shaking all over. Toothless growled again and sniffed the air in his direction. He was dressed in a thick coat; it looked strange. It was black and super furry. Hiccup couldn’t think of an animal with a coat that black and that fluffy. It wasn’t anything like the leather and fur outfits Vikings wore. But anyway, the boy was young and he seemed everything but a threat so she moved her hand away from Inferno and relaxed a bit.

“You scared me,” she said.

The boy didn’t react, he kept his eyes trained onto Toothless with a look that said both terrified and amazed. “Dragon,” he breathed.

Toothless cocked his head to the side and snorted, white puffs of breath leaving his nostrils. He glanced at Hiccup and his ears perked up. She shrugged back. She didn’t know who that was either.

Toothless sat down and tucked his wings in, pushing some snow away around him. There was no plasmablast building up and he wasn’t arching his back like a distressed cat either. He didn’t regard this boy as a threat. He was young, had no weapons they could see and he wasn’t that big or broad.

Hiccup looked back at the boy. His expression was so shocked and bewildered that it was as if he had never seen a dragon before. Had he never seen a dragon before? Sure there were some Scauldrons in these waters, perhaps a flock of Seashockers or a Snow Wraith somewhere hidden in the snow. And it wasn’t like Monstrous Nightmares would never dare into snowy landscapes.

“Yes,” Hiccup said, “Don’t worry, though. He’s a teddy bear.”

Toothless let out a surprised grumble at that and looked at her with a silent, judging look as if to say ‘Pfft, yeah sure’. He looked back at the boy and saw said boy was slowly walking closer, his knees bend a bit and his back arched to the ground slightly, as when you approached a possibly dangerous animal. He stopped dead in his tracks and looked at Hiccup, a look of shame crossed his face and he stepped back again. Toothless snorted and took a step back too, his back arched a little.

“I’m Ivar,” the boy said, as soon as he had retreated back to a reasonable distance.

“Hiccup,” Hiccup said. He raised his eyebrows at that and Hiccup shrugged vaguely. Ivar forgot about her name swiftly again and went back to approaching Toothless. The dragon leaned back slightly, then when Ivar was too close for his liking he sprinted at Hiccup and stood at her side, his head low to the ground, not in aggression, more like he had no idea what to expect.

“Oh, sorry,” Ivar said. “I didn’t mean to… eh… invoke anything. Are you lost?”

Hiccup glanced down at the dragon who had his head cocked to the side again. She gave a short nod at the boy. “Yeah, we’re not from around here. Would you be so kind to show us the way to your village?”

The boy had to come from some village, right? His tribe? Where he lived? It seemed logically, because where else could he come from? If there was one Ljósfoldian, the rest wasn’t far behind. Ljósfoldians, like humans, were pack animals. They lived together, hunt together, worked together. Name it! Loners didn’t survive long out there, as hunting was nearly impossible, you were all on your own so that didn’t mean protection from predators. And this boy was young, his family couldn’t be far away.  

The boy nodded eagerly and motioned for them to follow him. After she had put her stuff back into the saddlebags they did.

Or actually they tried, the snow was real hard to get through.

   

The village was a real tribe style village, as Hiccup was used to. It was much like her own home. The boy trotted before her, straight into the village. There, the snow was mostly removed or pressed together by feet, so that was nice. Because even though most of the snow only came to her ankles, her feet still got really cold.

Ivar was saying various things from which Hiccup could understand exactly none. He was speaking another language, one she didn’t understand, yet it didn’t even sound remotely like what they had spoken in the desert village. Some people came outside the houses. They looked curiously at Hiccup but backed away almost immediately as they saw Toothless follow her. The dragon rumbled deep inside his chest and nudged Hiccup’s hand.

“I know, bud,” she whispered. “I kinda feel uncomfortable too.”

She had lost Ivar out of sight when she looked up again and now she was alone once more, surrounded by strange people, in a village she didn’t know and with a broken tailfin. An old man came shuffling towards her, leaning on a staff.

“Welcome, young traveler,” he said solemnly, as if she was some sort of royalty. His look shortly shifted to Toothless but his eyes found hers again in a second, they were warm and welcoming. “And companion,” he added, before holding his hand out for her to shake.

As a sign of respect, Hiccup didn’t just shake his hand but her fingers curled around his wrist. A warrior’s greeting. He gave her a friendly nod before they let go again.

“My name is Hiccup Haddock,” she introduced herself.

“Hm,” the village elder said, “Hiccup. That’s quite the uncommon name. Not sure I’ve ever come across it before.” He said it with an amused smile so Hiccup didn’t feel offended. She awkwardly rubbed the nape of her neck.

“Yeah, I know. Where I come from, we aren’t the best with names. And it’s actually Hiccup Haddock the Third, but that’s so long and nobody wants to say it wholly so we just stuck with Hiccup.”

He gave her another warm smile and a light chuckle. “Well, Hiccup Haddock the Third, my name is Aklaq.”

Now it was Hiccup’s turn to raise her eyebrows. “Aklaq?” she repeated.

“It means Black Bear, a name I fear does not suit me well anymore.”

He had a hint of amusement in his voice which Hiccup appreciated a lot. It was a nice switch from all the unfriendly looks and unknown faces. But she has always thought old people looked friendly. They had to do little to make their face light up and to look like anyone’s grandparent. There, of course, were grumpy ones, angry and hostile ones even, but most weren’t. Old people had seen a great deal in their lives, they had lived for a long time and wisdom came with age.

Aklaq motioned her to follow her to his hut. “Come with me, child, let’s talk somewhere more private.”

He led her to a house in the middle of the village. While walking there, Hiccup and Toothless got about twice as much stares. Children came out of their homes to take a look at the dragon and its rider. Toothless normally was okay with people, especially children, walking close. But since their last few encounters with very hostile people it was better to be safe than sorry. So when one (whether child or adult) came too close he let out a warning grumble and showed his teeth. They jumped back and didn’t dare to come closer again.

Inside the house of the Village oldest they sat down with a cup of tea. Hiccup welcomed the warm beverage. Aklaq had someone bring her dragon some fish, so Toothless would feel welcome too. As the dragon was working his way down a pile of fish, without any eels of course, Hiccup had a conversation with the village elder.

“So, Hiccup, you’re not from here, are you?”

Hiccup let out a dry chuckle. “Not really, no. I’m not even sure where ‘here’ is.”

“Where are you from?”

“Berk,” Hiccup said. A sting worked through her stomach when she said it. God, she missed home already. “You know, either we’re really close to my home or very far away. It depends on whether we’re in the north or in the south. But either way it’s strange because we were flying more closely to the equator.” She sighed.

“One moment we’re flying from in Ucoln through the Wrurora desert back home, and the other we’re suddenly caught in a storm in the middle of the ocean, only to end up here. In this frozen landscape.”

The Village Elder looked at her strangely. “Ucoln?” he asked, “Wrur-what?”

“Yes, Ucoln. The empire with the Capital City Akoaron. You know, it’s the big continent lying due south on the world map? They have a lot of deserts there. If you go more south you’ll end up in the Antarctic region.”

Aklaq frowned and looked at her as if she were an alien. “Don’t you mean Africa?” he asked.

“Africa?” Hiccup repeated, frowning a bit, “I have never heard of such thing.”

“This desert,” Aklaq started, “The Wrur-something. Does it have one main river flowing through the land? A very important source of water?”

Hiccup nodded fast, “Yes! The Háski it’s called. Very dangerous. But it’s still the primary water source around there. It provided a crucial role in the development of the Ucoln civilization. Fun fact; silt deposits from the Háski made the surrounding land fertile because the river overflowed its banks annually. You couldn’t come close to it, but it was helpful nonetheless.”

“Oh,” was the only thing the Elder said, before being silent for a moment. Hiccup took a sip from the hot tea. She had a little trouble holding the cup with her right hand, the numbing cream had been mostly washed off and it started to wear out. Her hand was still stiff but now some pain tickled through.

“You have a dragon as companion, I noticed,” Aklaq said then, side-glancing at Toothless for a second.

“Yes, he’s my best friend, though I know how that sounds. His name is Toothless. I know it must be strange, seeing a dragon being so friendly. I can imagine you’ve had trouble with dragons on more than one occasion.”

Aklaq took a sip of his own tea, letting her wait for a moment again before he said, “Dragons?”

Hiccup nodded, not really picking up on the signals. “I can imagine some Scauldrons passing by in the sea, stealing fish. This snowy landscape would also be ideal for a Snow Wraith to live in, though those would need a cavern and I didn’t really see any mountains. But still. Also Speed Stingers, they appear in icy environments too. They like to island-hop, using the frozen sea. That had caused some trouble before.” She huffed a laugh.

“I think you are from further away than you realize,” Aklaq said, regarding her carefully. “You are on Earth now.”

Earth?

Oh! Midgard!

Hiccup chuckled and leaned back. “Yeah, sure. Funny. Messing with the Viking girl. Regardless from what’s been said about us, we’re not stupid. We’re on Ljósfold, not Midgard.”

Aklaq opened his mouth to say something but he gasped slightly as he looked at her. “You’re wounded!” he said, his hands pointing at the wound at her side, then he called out something in his own language that caused two women to walk in and examine her.

“We’ll pick this up another time. Those wounds need to be healed, now!”

  

* * *

   

After some clean bandages and some stitching Hiccup had almost entirely forgotten her conversation with the Village Elder. Of course she was still on Ljósfold, what did he think? He was probably a bit confused, as older people could be. Midgard… what a joke. She had never been on another planet before. She wanted to, but she hadn’t been. It wasn’t safe.

Plus she had not even the slightest of ideas how to even get there. She couldn’t ‘teleport’ or create portals. She wasn’t a witch and she most definitely wasn’t involved in black magic. Also she did not have access to the Bifrost, so there was that.

She huffed a bit when she thought of the Bifrost. It made her automatically think of the Asgardians. About Thor. He had been a real pain lately. Did he enjoy tormenting her? What had she done wrong? The gods must hate her. She had no idea why, but they probably did.

Though she had often sort of ‘insulted’ them, they couldn’t really hate her, could they? She said things like ‘oh my Thor’, and blamed Thor for the lightning storms. But that was because he was doing that, right? It was his doing?

Or maybe not.

She shrugged and continued working on the fin.

The whole thing consisted of a leather and metal tailfin controlled by a series of cables, pulleys, and gears connected to a set of pedals which Hiccup controlled with her feet while sitting on the saddle. She took the red tailfin and studied it. Most of it seemed to be still in good shape. The leather was ripped through but the metal cables, pulleys and gears seemed to be working fine. She just needed to make a few tweaks and they’d be as good as new! She hoped…  

Tapeesa, Aklaq’s wife, dropped in sometimes to give her some food, check up on her or to change her bandages. They had these oils and herbs they said stimulated the healing of the body. Hiccup had no idea if that was true but it did hurt less than before so that was good. They had dried and cleaned her clothes, someone had even cleaned her prosthetic leg.

It was all far more than she deserved as a strange but they didn’t want to hear any of it. They said it was no problem at all and that they didn’t get to meet strangers often.

She was glad she could use one of the houses, a workplace, to repair the fin. It was nice of them to lean her their tools. This way, she could repair the fin in no time and she’d be soaring through the air before she knew it!

“What is that?” a young voice asked. Hiccup turned around halfway to see Ivar standing inside the house too.

“It’s my dragon’s tail, want to watch me repair it?” Hiccup answered.

He nodded eagerly and hopped on a chair beside the table. She was glad he kept his hands to himself, she didn’t want him to move the parts around or just to touch everything. Toothless was keeping his gaze locked onto the boy from the other side of the house, close to the fireplace he had light up with a simple plasmablast. He didn’t growl or snarl, but he was keeping his eye on Ivar.

“What is it for?” Ivar asked.

“Well, my dragon lost one of his tail fins, and without those he can’t fly. This is an artificial prosthetic tailfin that I designed and built for Toothless, so he can fly again.”

“What do you need the foot thingy for?”

Hiccup pulled the yellow fin apart, carefully. Taking the good parts and set them away to separate them from the bad parts.

“It’s kind of a long story. The tail's first iteration consisted only of a strap-on prosthetic tailfin; after my first and unsuccessful test ride with Toothless, I discovered that the tailfin's position needed to be varied in flight, which I attempted at first by attaching the fin to a rope and manipulating it by hand. But that didn’t really work. It wasn’t efficient enough. Eventually I designed a gear system allowing me to control the tailfin with my left foot while sitting on a saddle.”

Ivar nodded, his mouth open a little as he watched her hands putting the parts together and attaching them to each other. The many, small rods had to be attached to the larger, main one. Sadly, both of those were bend.

“Have you got a hammer by any chance?” Hiccup asked.

Ivar nodded fast and hopped off the seat, bouncing off to another side of the workplace to fetch her a hammer. He dug through a box and pulled out a hammer.

Hiccup took it in her hand and with the metal rod in her other, she walked at the fireplace.

“Toothless, can you heat it up for me?”

She turned her head away as the dragon stood up and used a small, blow-torch flame to heat the metal up. She then used the hammer to hit the, now softer, rod straight again. Next she put it in water so it cooled off.

“Why can’t he fly without it?”

Hiccup wiped some sweat of her forehead and laid the rod on the table, grabbing the smaller, thinner rods to attach to the main one.

“Toothless, and Night Furies alike, use the tail fins to act as a balance and increased speed. Without these fins the tail would drag along with the body and give the dragon less air control. The fins add a cushion for the tail to rest on in flight plus giving it more speed as well. Technically Night Furies can fly without both but they cannot fly without one. With both gone they could get off the ground and fly but with major slower speed. With only one tail fin gone it leaves the dragon without a balance and sends it toward the ground.”

“Why?”

“Hm. Think about if you were spinning with both arms out.”

Ivar stood up again, spinning around and around, both arms out.

“Nice balance, yes? Now hold an arm to your side and spin with only one out.”

He did what she said, and suddenly he almost fell to the ground in the direction of the missing arm. He looked up at her in awe.

“The side with the missing arm doesn't have any weight to it so you 'fall' in that direction. Same principle with the fins. You can do it, but only for a while. His tail fins are crucial for balancing. That's why he cannot fly without me and the fin. He'll shoot all over the place as if he's off-balance. He can't take turns, and stuff like that.”

The boy looked at Toothless again and slowly walked closer. “Can I pet him?”

“Don’t ask me, ask him. He’s not a pet, he’s not my possession. We’re friends.”

Ivar nodded and looked back at the dragon. “Can I pet you?”

Toothless stood up and growled at him, then walked away to the other side of the room. Okay, that was a ‘no’. The boy didn’t seem offended by it though. Ivar stared at the dragon’s missing tail fin, as he passed by. Then his look went back to Hiccup and down, to her missing leg. He pointed at it.

“What happened to your-?”

“I lost it. Now please can you let me concentrate?”

The teenager nodded and sat back down on his chair. He was far too curious to leave. He would just be silent and watch her while she worked. In silence. She had a dragon. A _dragon_. There was no way he’d pass on the opportunity to see a dragon.

Red III was the latest iteration of Toothless' tail. It was an evolution of all the past tails. It featured a much more complex gear system. Unlike the older tails, this tail had two 'pedals', one on its right which controls the vertical angle of the tail, allowing for greater control to do things such as barrel rolls and tighter turns, and a 'sliding' pedal on its left controlled by Hiccup's prosthetic controlling the outward (horizontal) extension of the tail. This duel controlled tail allowed Hiccup to more precisely control the tail to allow for more precise movements.

But it also made it a lot harder to repair the stupid thing.

Lucky for her, his saddle and the stirrup weren’t broken, it was just the fin. The pulleys and gears and everything was fine. And now she had made the main rod straight again there were only a few more things she had to do. She had a new piece of strong but thin leather that had been painted red and was now drying. She would leave the skull, it wasn’t that important.

She hoped this one would last longer. She had to make a spare tail actually, but that would cost so much time and she didn’t have the materials to do that. She would have to make them from scratch and that would simply take too long. She wanted to leave, to fly, to find out where she was.

Where she was… she _was_ on Ljósfold, right? She wasn’t somewhere else on another planet, was she? No, she couldn’t be. She wasn’t allowed to ‘world hop’. It would bring dangers with it, as she had no legal and safe way to travel. Only the rich and privileged had that. And she was neither. So…

“Hey, we aren’t actually on Earth, are we?” Hiccup asked carefully. Afraid of the answer.

Ivar snapped out his thoughts and looked up at her. He nodded. “We are. This is Earth. And now you’re in Greenland. It’s close to America, basically attached to Canada.”

Hiccup let the pulley drop from her hand and she sat down in the chair behind her. She rubbed her forehead and sighed deeply. Another world. _Another_ darn _world_. This wasn’t some unknown land, she knew _nothing_ here. No one.

She was never going to survive out here, and how could she get back? She had to get back, she couldn’t stay here. She needed to warn the others of Ragnar, she couldn’t leave her dad out there, all alone. What if they thought something horrible had happened to her?

Alright Hiccup, don’t panic, she thought to herself. You’re gonna fix this. You are going to get back, no doubt. You will get out of here and find your way back to Ljósfold. No doubt, no doubt, no doubt, no doubt.

First, she had to make a list. What did she know about Midgard? About Earth? What had she learned at Viking school?

Earth and Ljósfold were sibling planets. They were like twins. The planets had developed from the same cosmic energy, which had split into two identical spheres of energy. Slowly, like all other planets, they had grown and formed a planet. Because they came from the same energy, they were identical to one another. They had the same air and the same flora and fauna. Only because their position towards the sun, moons and other planets was a tad different, the flora and fauna had evolved differently.

For example, from the birds and reptiles on Ljósfold came not only other birds and other reptiles, but also dragons. They developed wings and fire. On Earth, that step in evolution never happened. So they didn’t have any dragons. The land was slightly different too, but that was just because of certain volcano eruptions or earthquakes that either did or didn’t happen.

That would work in her favor, she sort of knew the land around here. North and south were the same. They may be living different people, but they couldn’t be that different.

“Are you an alien?” Ivar asked then.

“To me, you are the one who is alien,” Hiccup answered. She stood up and continued her work. The sooner she had repaired the fin, the sooner she could start finding her way home.

  

* * *

   

“It has been an honor meeting you, Hiccup Haddock the Third,” Aklaq said, extending his hand towards her.

She curled her fingers around his wrist and shook his hand. “Same to you. You were very friendly to me, and thank you for the provisions.”

He waved it off, “That is no problem, we love to help out young travelers. Now, we gave you a map of the world you are in now. You must be careful, I do not think the people here are the same as on your home planet. We do not have dragons here, not even one. Yours is one of a kind. And there are dangerous people out there. You cannot just trust anyone and come with them as you had come with little Ivar.”

He was looking at her with a look so serious Hiccup got goosebumps. They didn’t have dragons here, so that meant her dragon was the only of his kind that existed here. Which made him rare and wanted. It was best if she kept away from people as much as possible, to avoid contact.

“I do not know anything about blue whirlwinds or magical portals, but I do think I know someone who does, you can go and find him,” Aklaq continued, letting go of Hiccup’s hand, “A couple years back, we had the strangest encounter. You see, not that far away from our village, more towards the arctic, there was a lot of commotion. Apparently, when the Russians were searching for oil, they came across a rather peculiar thing. It was a massive ship, buried in the ice. It had been there for seventy years.”

Hiccup raised her brows.

“Yes, yes. It had crash-landed there a long time ago. And now they found it. When they found out what- or rather, _who_ , was inside… _they_ showed up.”

“They… who?”

“The people in the suits who asked all kinds of strange questions. Not the usual, no, they asked about things you would never hear a normal person ask. I remembered one of them clearly, I have spoken with him for a while. A wise man, he is. He knew a lot about strange things. I think he is the one you need to find. His name is Phillip. Phillip Coulson. He works for an extra-governmental military counter-terrorism and intelligence agency, tasked with maintaining both national and global security. Or so he said. I think he will be able to help you.”

Phillip Coulson… that name didn’t ring any bells. But she put it in a special place in her mind. If he could help her, she needed to find him. If he was working for an agency that was keeping the world safe, he may be the type of person she needed right now.

Or needed to avoid.

“I hope you will find what you are looking for, and that you may return home safely,” Aklaq said.

Hiccup nodded. “Will do. Again, thank you for everything you have done for me.”

“No problem, no problem. If you cannot find him and need a place to ‘lay low’, our village is always open for you.” He gave her a genuine smile.

He kept smiling at her as she climbed onto Toothless’ back, putting her foot in the stirrup and pressing it down. The new tail fin flared out and she waved at the people of the village. Toothless let out a roar that said ‘goodbye’ and stretched his wings. Then he took off.

  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here it is, I liked to write this. It was fun. Poor Hiccup tho. Can't know who to trust. 
> 
> Now she gotta find this Phillip Son of Coul. 
> 
> But what more dangerous will await her?


	9. The Song of the Soldier

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “A chance?” The Committee General huffed, “Scumbags like him don’t deserve a chance. He came to Earth, killed people and tried to take over. If you asked me, I’d be okay with him dying.”
> 
> “Then it’s a real damn shame nobody asked you,” Steve snapped back.

_Click-clack-click-clack_

That ever echoing, sharp, metronome sound was the only thing keeping him company. The sound stayed at the same pace, making its way through the dimly lit hallway. There were rooms to his left and rooms to his right, all empty, all quiet. There was no one to be seen. It was just him. Just him and the silence.

_Click-clack-click-clack_

He straightened his tie and lightly scowled at it when it didn't do what he wanted. He hated these suits, they were too tight, he could barely move his arms and the buttons kept popping open if he did. Not to mention the noose around his neck.

The noose that people kept pulling tighter because it 'looked better'. It was only for a few hours, he reminded himself. Only for a few hours he had to put up a show. The main act: conjuring a charming smile onto his face and telling everyone he was fine. His number one lie.

_Click-clack-click-clack_

It wasn't like his friends were fake or that nobody loved him, they were all amazing. They were the acrobats in his circus show, the parade horses and the clowns in his crazy life. They were his family. After he lost his own he was thankful to have found a new one. It was strange and broken, but still good.

They cared deeply for each other and had each other’s backs. But still he wasn't fine. He wasn't 'not fine' as in he was not feeling well or just down for a day or two. He was not feeling fine all the time. He was able to do everything he could before and more, but still he wasn't feeling _ok_.

_Click-clack-click-clack_

It was this nagging feeling inside him. This horrible feeling of something bad. Yes. Something bad. He had the feeling like something bad was either already happening or coming, soon. It had started since about a month. He felt his stomach clench on the most strangest of moments. When he was training, when he was on a mission, when he was running outside. Sometimes even when he was making coffee or when he lay awake at night in bed.

He would toss and turn, flipping his pillow constantly to rest his head on the cold side. But with no effect. He kept turning to his other side, the feeling his stomach staying as a belly ache. He had tried explaining it to someone but they said he could have a stomach flu. But that was not it. There was no pain, just a hollow feeling. This wasn't some flu, this was something bigger than himself. Something dangerous was on the way and he needed to be ready.

He hoped with all his might it wasn't another alien attack. Every alien should just stay on their own planet, where they were supposed to be. You didn't see humans frolic around on other being's planets, trying to destroy it. Yes, Thor and Loki were here, but one or two wasn’t that bad. Loki had almost caused the end of the world, he knew that, but now they were good. If they behaved well, he actually didn’t mind that much. But they had to _behave_.

_Click-clack-click-clack_

Again he straightened his tie, hating the noose around his neck. There was nothing he wanted more than sitting on the couch in his sweatpants and a comfortable hoodie or sweater. Not wearing this jacket he couldn’t move in or the shirts that were actually too small. People would comment he looked nice in them, that they would ‘emphasize’ his frame. But secretly he hated them, sometimes he couldn’t even breathe right in them, it was a nightmare. Hoodies were just fine. But he couldn't wear those now. He still had to do something. He was on his way to something and he couldn't cancel.

He sighed as he regarded the room full of people. All people who expected something of him. People who counted on him, who counted on him to save them. He had a good reputation but as soon as he did something wrong it would be crushed and shattered, torn into a thousand pieces. They expected him to always know everything, to always come up with the answers. They thought he knew why bad things happened, and they looked at him to solve everything.

He was only human, he could only take so much. He wasn't some mindless machine they could turn on and put to work whenever they wished so. They couldn't expect him to always make the right choices. He was a human being with human emotions and feelings. And some people just needed to step the hell down. He wasn't perfect, he was far from it. He had flaws and was too stubborn, and not a real fan of the government.

He nodded at the room full of people.

"Gentlemen," he said, getting some nods back.

The Head Secretary stood up, gesturing at the only empty seat. "Please sit." The air was dark and gloomy and as he sat down he couldn't help but feeling unwanted. Not that that was anything new though. Not here. He pulled the chair back and sat down, his hands resting on the table.

"Do you know why you are here?" The secretary asked.

As he sat up a little straighter, he nodded. Yes he did. He knew very well why he was here. Otherwise he wouldn’t be here. And if they would ask him he'd say he had no regret whatsoever. He wasn't going to apologize for he had done.

"Yes," he answered.

The secretary looked displeased. Not that he often looked _not_ displeased, but he looked even more so today. Like the man who had just sat down was a thorn in his eye. An eternal spot on his glasses that wouldn’t go away no matter how many times he tried cleaning them.

"So you are aware that you and the rest of the Avengers are housing a dangerous criminal? Or in fact; two dangerous criminals? Men running from the law? People dangerous to society? A Hydra soldier and an alien who wanted to dominate the Earth, no less."

"With all due respect, mister secretary, but the ‘Hydra soldier’ has provided us with helpful information which caused various Hydra cells to be taken down, and not to mention he is long no part from Hydra anymore. He is with us. And about the ‘alien’… you have had quite a hand in his punishment."

"Let’s talk about the soldier first. He’s a threat. I don’t mean to be blunt, but he is. You know it, this fine gentleman next to me knows it, I know it. He has over a dozen assassinations over the last seventy years and who says he won't –"

"I do," the new man interrupted, his hand swiping over that annoying tie to smooth it down, "I say he won't do it again. He barely comes outside and when he does there is always someone keeping an eye on him."

“But how can you be sure –”

“Because I’m the one who always keeps an eye out for him. Any further questions?”

The room was silent for a moment. “Captain, you should know that there are some on this committee who feel, given his service record, both for this country and against it, that he belongs in a penitentiary, not living freely in Avengers Headquarters.

Steve regarded him for a moment, then said calmly, “He’s not the Winter Soldier. His name is James Barnes. And he doesn’t need to be locked up in prison, he needs a stable home and friends. He has both as he is staying with the Avengers. You can’t change that. And besides, you're not gonna put him in a prison. You're not gonna put any of us in a prison. You know why?”

“Do enlighten us.”

“Because you need us.”

The secretary scoffed, Steve ignored this and continued, “Yes, the world is a vulnerable place, and yes, we helped make it that way. But we're also the ones best qualified to defend it, as we have proven multiple times. Hydra is still out there –”

“Captain, could you explain how this country's expected to maintain its national security now that you and miss Romanoff have laid waste to our intelligence apparatus?” the Committee General interrupted him.

Steve felt his eyebrows raise. “Hydra was selling you lies, not intelligence.”

“Many of which miss Romanoff seemed to have had a personal hand in telling.”

“My apologies, sir, I’m confused. I was under the assumption we were talking about James Barnes, not Natasha Romanoff.”

The Committee General glanced at the secretary and sighed, his hands making a vague gesture. “You tell me, Captain. We already got a team filled with unstable, dangerous people, from which a few are spies, one is Tony Stark and frankly, that says enough on its own, one unstable monster that is controlled by rage, two gods from another world and two experiments who had a hand in the Sokovia incident. Though the Winter Soldier fits perfectly in that group America would be able to sleep a whole lot better knowing at least one of those individuals was locked up. Especially that god that is currently prancing around your Head Quarters!”

Straightening his back, Steve looked right at the Committee General, his eyebrows lowering and pressing his lips to a thin line. Loki wasn’t ‘prancing around’ their Head Quarters, quite the contrary. He had to rest a lot because his wounds were still not healed, and he was tired quickly. These people here had no idea what they were talking about. And how dared he calling Pietro and Wanda ‘experiments’, like they were nothing more than a _thing_.

The General looked away briefly, visibly intimidated and knowing he crossed a line. He coughed once, rolled his shoulders a bit and sat up straight.

“Mister Rogers, you must understand that, well, they still form a threat. What if Hydra would claim the soldier again? What if the alien decides to pick up where he left off? What if Hydra turned the ‘Winter Soldier’ back on?”

Steve chuckled slightly, “Mister Committee General, what if a meteor crashed down on Earth tomorrow and all life would cease to exist? I am not going to turn my friends in because you give me ‘what if’ scenarios. ‘What if’ could mean anything. And believe me, I’m the last person who wants to see the Winter Soldier back in action, or see Loki try to take over Earth again. James Barnes is my friend, and if there’s even the smallest chance I can help him stay James Barnes, I will take that chance with both hands. And about Loki, I doubt he’ll ever try anything considering what happened last time he did such a thing. He was tortured for two years, non-stop. But I don’t need to tell you that since you already knew.”

And before the torture Loki had been locked up, left to his own for almost a year. It wasn’t as bad as torture, but Steve could imagine it wasn’t pleasant either.

The members of the committee regarded each other shortly. “Mister Rogers. Do you not think the punishment fits the crime here? He killed people of ours we show him how we take that.”

“By torturing him?”

“We had to show them somehow. And violence seems to be the only thing these aliens understand. We made sure he understood that you don’t mess with Earth.”

“You were leaving him there to die, and _nobody_ knew _anything_. That’s not ‘making an example out of him’ or ‘punishment fits the crime’, that’s just plain cruel.”

“Does he still want to take over the Earth?” the secretary asked.

“No, because –”

Steve wanted to explain but was cut off by the secretary, “So it worked. I don’t see the problem here.”

Steve balled his hands to fists and his eyebrows lowered again. “They tortured a man until he was nothing more than a pile of bones and skin, more of his insides were showing than his outsides! You let him suffer unimaginably and didn’t even give him a chance–”

“A chance?” The Committee General huffed, “Scumbags like him don’t deserve a chance. He came to Earth, killed people and tried to take over. If you asked me, I’d be okay with him dying.”

“Then it’s a real damn shame nobody asked you,” Steve snapped back. He inhaled heavily through his nose, he had to control his rage. Getting angry would get them nowhere. “Both Loki and Bucky stay with us. They’re both trying. _Everyone’s_ trying. We’re solving your problems _for_ you. We are protecting Earth and we will keep doing that. We are trying to do good, so don’t you dare talk about us like that.”

"It's hard to argue with a man who prevented Ultron from killing thousands of people,” the Committee General said, “But there are plenty more battles to be won, and we can’t afford things like this. We already have to protect the Earth against space aliens, and now the people who are supposed to protect us are only making things worse. I mean, look at those Maximoff monsters. Enhanced children with a personal vendetta who had their own hand in creating Ultron, and then _helping_ him for god’s sake…”

Steve frowned and his jaw clenched. Two reasons, they called Pietro and Wanda ‘those Maximoff monsters’, something they had absolutely no fucking right to. They were children yes, and they did bad things, but they also did good. They were helping now, they were good. There was no reason to call them experiments or monsters. Steve wanted to punch the guy in the face for even thinking such thing.

And second, they were bringing Ultron into this. He hated it when they did that. Mainly because they always did have some sort of point. It was their fault Ultron was created. It was their fault he wanted to destroy the Earth. It was their fault Sokovia was destroyed by a robot as it was created by the Avengers.

Only the news and the superhero antis were ‘happy’ with the fall of Sokovia. This way the antis actually had something to whine about. They said the Avengers were dangerous, that they were no better than the villains they fought. That they were the villains themselves but covered it up with good deeds.  

The General continued, merciless, "Ultron was created because people were too close to Tony Stark. They were blinded by his charm. They trusted him. Never even thought to look at what he was working on with Dr. Banner. And the Avengers, they let two man do whatever they wanted, and the world was almost destroyed for it. But instead of the world it was ‘just’ Sokovia who had paid the price. As if Banner hadn’t destroyed enough cities yet. And this wasn’t the first time. You weren’t exactly gentle during the New York incident either."

“Excuse me for speaking my mind, General,” Steve said, “But didn’t you try to bomb New York city and wipe it off the map as solution?”

Some mumbling went through the room. The Committee General became a bit red and stammered some things, “Well- eh uh- yes- but… well.”

“Tony Stark could have died trying to save the city form that nuke you send.”

“In our defense,” the secretary said, “He could have just let go of that bomb earlier and it would have flown inside by itself. Nobody forced him into that wormhole, that was his fault, it wasn’t even necessary.”

At that point Steve wanted to jump at the man’s throat. His fingers dug into the table top, scratching it slightly, his knuckles turning white from clenching it too hard. His toes curled in anger and he gritted his teeth in an effort to remain silent.

Bucky had once told Steve (sometimes Bucky could actually get talkative, though it didn’t happen often), that when Steve was angry everyone knew it. They could all see his attempts to stay neutral and calm, but it was like he grew in size like Dr. Banner. He squared his shoulders, his hands cramped, his jaw was clenching and there was just this fire in his eyes. Not some flame, but an actual wildfire.

And this was one of those moments. How dared that man tell him it was Tony’s own fault he nearly died? How _dared_ he? It wasn’t just rude, but it was outright insulting and hurtful. Fine, Steve didn’t know why Tony held on so long to that nuke, but maybe he just wanted to make sure it would work before he let go. Maybe the thing was very unpredictable and he _had_ to hold on or the thing would go the other way.

Or maybe he was just shocked and frozen because there was a wormhole and an invasion of alien monsters, plus some god who had a mind-controlling scepter, and they had to fight for their lives and the lives of everyone else. With the adrenaline kicking in and with all the threats they were a bit too busy to notice, but their stress levels had skyrocketed.

Tony had flown into that wormhole, losing J.A.R.V.I.S and running out of oxygen almost immediately. He ended up unconscious and fell, he nearly died if it weren’t for Hulk jumping to the rescue. God, this all just made him _so_ mad.

“He wouldn’t have flown into that wormhole if you hadn’t send that nuke,” Steve countered, “So what are you saying?”

The Committee General gave this little shrug with a motioning gesture. “I’m not saying anything, Mr. Rogers. Just know that you are responsible for at least half of all the damage and deaths. And we’ll be keeping an eye on all of you. You are not above the law, so we’ll make damn sure you follow it. If one of you only steps one inch over the line, I’ll come get them.”

Steve didn’t even answer to that, “If that was all?”

The secretary scoffed. “You think, that just because you’re Captain America you get to decide this?”

Steve stood up, smoothing his tie down again and he flashed the secretary a grin, “Yes. I do.”

He drew the chair up to the table and thanked the people in the room for their time. Then he walked away, exiting the room with his stomach in a knot and a heavy feeling in his chest. The grin was wiped off his face and he dropped the whole confident expression when he walked outside. There was anger, there was sadness, there was disappointment and a hint of fear even.

He checked himself out, only nodding at the friendly woman when she said bye. At least she was nice, the rest in that government building was a nightmare.

Outside he stopped for a moment to lay his head in his neck and look up at the stars, only to see they were covered by a layer of clouds. He breathed in deeply, held it for a few seconds before letting go slowly. He saw his own breath leave his mouth.

It was getting late, he should be heading home. He just hoped nobody would cause any more trouble tonight.

  

* * *

  

Thor was leaning with the side of his head on his hand, his elbow on the side of the couch, some hair hanging along his face like a curtain. He was tapping with his finger on his leg, staring at it like it was an action movie or something. The whole appearance was way too familiar. Bucky sat like that sometimes too, especially with the hair hanging before his face. Like they wanted to hide.

Steve shrugged off his jacket and pulled the tie off his neck, throwing it onto the table. Next was that stupid other jacket, that tight one that made it hard to move. He was stripped down to his pants and a white dress shirt.

The other didn’t respond nor looked up when Steve did that, he just kept sitting there like someone had told him Loki died. Oh no, did Loki die? He probably didn’t, right? God, Steve hoped he didn’t.

“Hey Thor, is something wrong?” Steve asked, sitting down next to him on the couch.

Thor stopped tapping on his leg but was still leaning with his head on his hand. His expression showed Steve he was struggling with something and the dark clouds outside told him it wasn’t good. Thor sighed a little, giving Steve a side-glance. “Do you think Loki likes it here?”

Steve was silent for a moment. If Loki was happy at the Avengers Compound? He remembered when Thor and Loki came in. Tony had told them the basics. Loki had been captured, brought to Asgard (or not, that was still vague), then he had somehow ended up at a government supported training’s center to be ‘practiced’ on for years. And they practiced torture.

Tony had told them that he and Loki had this open conversation where they went over what had happened and that (Tony said it sounded so casual saying it like that, but he promised it was genuine) Loki was sorry.

He didn’t go in on all the details but for Steve it was enough. Government? Torture? Three years? That was enough for him to be on board. Loki had done bad things, had killed people, but this switch in Steve’s head just flicked and he felt like Loki deserved a second chance.

But honestly, Steve believed everyone deserved a second chance. Bucky had killed loads of people under force and brainwashing, Steve forgave him. Pietro and Wanda had tried to kill the team and did some nasty damage, Steve forgave them. If it was honest and meant, Steve was willing to forgive. He was never going to forget, he couldn’t even if he tried really hard to, but he could _forgive_.

And after Loki had tried to take over Earth he was tortured for over two years, plus one year in a lonely cell. That sounded like punishment enough for Steve. So now he was here, reunited with his brother and away from the pain.

But if Loki was happy?

Between Loki and Thor everything seemed rainbows and puppies. Loki joked around (after carefully looking if his brother was in a good mood or not, which worried Thor because Loki had never done that before) and Thor was so intensely happy his brother was back they had nothing but bright clear skies the past weeks. Tony and Loki had something going on too, Steve didn’t exactly know what that was. Between a lot of the team members and Loki things were still new, but he was getting there.

This new version of Loki was just so… likable. He was this shy little thing that had been through hell and desperately wanted a second chance. And his eyes were so expressive that you just had to look in them for a second or two and you’d know he meant it. He had a black bruise ringing his eye (that was slowly disappearing by now) and bruises on his throat. Also they could see he had trouble lifting one of his arms. Dislocated, was all that Tony had said, terribly dislocated.

Loki had approached Steve too, they were almost the same height but Loki had made himself smaller, clearly looking for approval before speaking.

They had talked a bit, Loki had been constantly fiddling with his sleeves, pulling them over his hands. Steve wondered why he was doing that at first but he didn’t dare to ask to be sure when he saw the layers upon layers of scars on them. It made him feel a little nauseous.

Loki had really been through hell, and the fact that he was willing to work hard and really _try_ made Steve believe him. He didn’t know if that was the same for the others. Steve and Loki hadn’t really had much interaction in their past. Only this one fight Steve suddenly realized he had almost freakishly easily won (he thought he once heard that Loki had almost won from Thor, and that he was a master in magic, why did Steve win so easily?), and maybe one time in the Helicarier?

But others had had spent more time with Loki. Tony was one, but apparently Stark had forgiven Loki for throwing him out a window because he heard them joke about it later (something along the lines of: ‘I need to get down to the first floor but the lift don’t work, ugh, Loki please throw me through the window.’ ‘As you wish.’), and they seemed to have this secret understanding.

Then there was Natasha who said she was fine with it… and she probably was fine with it? Steve really couldn’t tell. Sometimes she’d look at Loki as if he despised her but Steve had also caught her staring at the god with a soft look in her eyes, a little bit of _recognition_ and compassion.

Bruce wanted to stay clear from the god for a while, he said, to get used to the fact Loki would be around and Loki said he respected that. They stayed clear but Loki was on his best behavior when Bruce _was_ around. They had shared a cup of tea once and Loki had asked Bruce if he could recommend any good books. They were getting there.

But then was Clint. And Clint… he did not take it very well. The day Tony had told Loki would be living with them he had drank about twelve cups of coffee and six beers. They had to hide the rest before he would drink himself to death.

Clint was _not_ happy. He said that it was their decision and if they were okay with it he was too, but he was _not_ happy. He had hid in the vent the day Loki came. The god had tried talking to him but one ‘fuck off’ from Clint made Loki close up and silently retreat. They mostly avoided each other.

Bucky had lifted his hand for about a second to greet the god, then retreated too. But that had nothing to do with Loki, more with Bucky himself. Sam had shook Loki’s hand and told him welcome, not saying very much more. Sam hadn’t been there, so what could he say? The god didn’t seem that bad to him, but he did acknowledged that it was easy for him to say. 

Pietro and Wanda hadn’t met Loki yet. They always seemed to just miss one another, so much so that it almost turned comical. Either they were out (very irregularly, they just went out and sometimes were away for a day or two. Steve would get a text saying they were crashing at some hotel or something) or Loki was back at a house of Tony’s. Loki stayed over there a lot, with Peter and Tony (Peter still hadn’t met the others). It was quiet there and that way everyone got some space to breathe. They didn’t want to force anything. Vision hadn't met Loki either. The robot was spending a lot of time in Sokovia with the twins, which was where they were now. He helped, but that was not the only thing. Vision had always been sort of 'drawn' to Ultron, and since Sokovia was the place Ultron died he ghosted around there for a while. Not entirely sure what he's looking for.

Thor knew Tony had saved his brother and he let the mechanic know he was very thankful. A smile ghosted across Steve's face as he thought about it. Tony’s ribs had almost been broken by the tight embrace.

Steve realized he had been quiet for a long time and cleared his throat, calling Thor’s attention back to him.

"I don’t know. I do know your brother can be dramatic, but I think…” he sighed, “He does not seem _unhappy_. Things are just so new, not just for him but for us too. He’s fine with Tony, Peter, Natasha you and me, but that doesn’t quite apply to the rest. Sam’s fine too I guess, but they don’t really talk either. Then there’s Clint… Loki just hasn’t been here very often."

“What can you suggest I do?”

“Take it easy, let everyone get adjusted to one another. We have time, and if your brother is really that willing to try then he’ll wait too. Things like this take time. Old wounds were reopened and they need time to heal. But on the bright side, maybe those wounds can finally heal permanently.” A short breath and a rapid work of thoughts. “I noticed he seems quite differently from New York.”

Thor nodded slowly. “Yes, my brother is indeed behaving entirely different from how he was behaving while his attack on Midgard. It most certainly is strange.”

Steve gave him a side-glance, “You think he’s acting?”

“No,” Thor said, then he looked Steve right in the eye, “I do not think that because this is how Loki has always behaved before. A little more nervous and skittish these days but…” Thor sighed.

“He has always been gentler and quieter than me. Loki was shy and withdrawn as a child; he was not looking for attention, he was alone much but did not mind. He liked to come along with me and my friends sometimes, but that was it. I was confused when I found my brother had become so… _desperate_ for power. Loki had told me multiple times he never wanted to rule, that he just wanted to be my equal. What I saw the past weeks is the Loki I have always known. If I am being honest, I have no idea who that person in New York was, because it was _not_ my brother.”

With that, Thor excused himself, stood up and left the room, presumably to back to bed and Steve stayed behind. Not tired anymore but with a bit of a headache. This weird feeling of his just kept stirring inside him and all the things that had been happening gave him a lot of stress, which resulted in a headache. He wanted to go get some sleep too.

But before he did that he had something else to do. It was the middle of the night, he knew that, but since he had the strangest family out there it wouldn’t hurt to check up on them. Just to be sure. Maybe then the clenching in his stomach would settle down.

What if that was it? What if he was just worried about his friends?

The hallway was broad and straight like the old canal which cut through the town, but instead of watery greens overhung by new foliage it was all neatly painted white. The floor was shiny though, like water in the mornings. This was his home, and Steve loved it. It was a place they could rest after their missions, a place they felt at ease.

Steve walked through the broad and straight hallway, passing many doors. He walked past classic hardwood designer doors with a dark brown color and a shiny lacquer layer, decorated with carvings and a golden painted doorknob. Some doors had been decorated. Steve’s bedroom door, for instance, had his name painted on it in red, white and blue. Together with his shield underneath it.

He stopped at the door with a red star on it, no name but Steve still knew whose bedroom it was. Bucky’s bedroom. Steve stopped for a short amount of time, standing close to the wooden door. His hand already lied on the doorknob, ready to open it.

He didn't want to wake his friend up, but he also wanted to check on him. Steve wasn't usually doing this, when they were young it used to be Bucky who was checking on him, but things were different know, he guessed. Without making too much noise, Steve turned the doorknob and opened the door on an ajar. He peeked inside.

A small stripe of light fell into the room, Steve vaguely saw Bucky lying on this stomach with his arms wrapped around his pillow, one hand underneath it. Steve wondered if there was a knife or a gun hidden underneath it, wouldn't be the first time.

Most of the time, Bucky slept half on his stomach half on his side, one arm underneath the pillow to reach for a weapon. It was quiet in the room, all Steve could hear was the calm, regular breathing of his old friend sleeping. The blankets had been kicked back to the end, so Steve entered the room to put them back over him. Bucky stirred slightly when it happened, but didn’t wake up.

When he was done Steve closed the door again and walked further through the hallway. Bucky was okay, it's wasn't like Steve had been expecting something else, but he needed to know for sure. Bucky was strong, he could get through anything.

The next stop was at the lab. Even though that room was in a whole different hallway he wanted to check up on it anyway. It wasn’t Banner’s lab; the one with all the test tubes and the science things. It was Tony’s lab with all the machines and robots and thingies. It wasn’t that far from Tony’s own room.

Like Pepper and Colonel Rhodes, Steve knew the passcode for the lab. Pepper had given it to him, knowing Steve was like the ghost-protector of the Avengers Head Quarters. He would make sure everyone was safely tucked into bed, especially Tony.

Not because Tony was more important or anything, but because the mechanic had the habit of just falling asleep on the floor of his lab or not sleep at all.

Steve typed in the code of the door and it opened for him, not making any sound. As he walked inside it didn’t take long for him to see Loki lying on the couch. The god already had a blanket over him and a pillow underneath his head, so he was fine. Steve did make sure that his neck wasn’t turned in an awkward angle, or that he was cutting of the blood supply to a limb or foot or anything, but it was all fine. Steve suspected Tony had already taken care of that. 

But he found Tony passed out on the floor with a wrench clutched in his fist and oil in his hair. He slept spread-eagle, mouth a bit open and his limbs splayed. Steve was always wondering how the hell he ended up sleeping on the floor like, did he just decide the stone floor looked comfortable enough to sleep on? He hoped it wasn’t because Tony just gave out and collapsed. That could be very dangerous. He didn’t want Tony to hit his head against anything.

At his right feet there was a boot from the Iron Man suit. He was probably working on it while sitting on the floor, then decided he needed a nap and just lay down ‘for a moment’. That sounded like something Tony would do.

Steve plucked the wrench from Tony’s fist, took the boot from his foot and carefully lifted him up to take him to bed. As silent as he could, because he didn’t want to wake up Loki. At was at these moments he was thankful Tony’s room was so close to his work lab. That meant he didn’t have to take Tony far and thus there was less risk to him waking up. Either Tony was awake or he slept, he didn’t really do ‘turn around and sleep further’, once he was awake he stayed awake until he sort of passed out and the circle repeated.

As soon as Tony was in bed too Steve continued his round. After a while spending with this whole family he had found that Bucky and Tony were the ones that really needed to be checked on. Tony because else he never went to bed and Bucky because of his terrible nightmares that sometimes send him back into some half-Winter Soldier state and no one would notice. He would sit on his bed and stare at his wall for hours upon hours upon hours. Frozen in a state of fear and emptiness.

Thor was fine as he had seen him a few minutes ago. Bucky was fine, Tony was in bed too. Sam didn’t really need someone to check on him, but Steve did it anyway. Sam was safe and sound asleep. So were Natasha and Bruce. The latter never really had problems sleeping. He practically always went out like a light.

But when he passed Wanda’s and Pietro’s room, he stopped in his tracks. The twins had their room together so he didn’t exactly know which one of the two it was but one of them had either left their light on or wasn’t asleep.

Steve opened the door carefully and looked inside. Wanda’s bed was at the left side and Pietro’s at the right side. The door opened to the inside, swinging from the right to the left so the first thing Steve saw was Pietro’s bed. The boy twin seemed deep asleep, wrapped in a cocoon of blankets.

As he opened the door further he saw Wanda sitting on the edge of her bed, looking at the wall. She looked up as Steve came in and gave him a faint smile. Steve being Steve quietly sat down next to her.

“Is everything alright?” he whispered.

Wanda nodded, but she didn’t show it. She rubbed her hands and was silent.

“Did you have a nightmare?”

Again she nodded. At least she was admitting it, that was already far better than what some people did here. They kept lying straight in Steve’s face about nightmares and having trouble going back to sleep. Steve hated it that they for some reason thought they couldn’t tell him about it. He understood, but he wanted to create a safe house where everyone could just be honest to one another. Where you could be whatever you want, speak openly about your fears and insecurities and nobody would ever judge you. He wanted to create a house of trust, where everyone was supportive.

“It was the usual, nothing to worry about,” Wanda whispered back, “I just needed a moment.”

Steve rubbed circles on her back and gave her a smile. He wanted to ask her if she needed anything but she asked her own question before he could, “You were at that government talk, yes?”

Oh no. Steve sat a bit closer and nodded.

“Did they – did you talk about me?”

He couldn't help it, it was as if someone told you not to think about a pink elephant. Of course he thought about a pink elephant when you said that. His mind automatically jumped back to ‘ _those Maximoff monsters’_

_Enhanced children with a personal vendetta who had their own hand in creating Ultron, and then helping him for god’s sake…_

“Nothing you need to worry about.”

“So they did?”

Her bottom lip wobbled a bit and it was at moments like this Steve realized both Pietro and Wanda were still so young. They weren’t kids anymore, they had turned nineteen more than a few months ago (actually their twentieth birthday was only like a month and a half away), but they been through so many terrible things already. Things most people couldn’t even imagine. And nineteen… they were practically still teenagers.

He pulled Wanda closer into a hug and pressed a kiss on top of her head. “Listen, Wanda. As long as I’m breathing no one is going to take you away. No one is gonna lay a hand on you. The government exist from lying bastards, who only do what is in their own best interest. When they need us they use us, and when they don't all they do is whine. I made sure they know that if they dare to come after any of you, they are going to have to deal with me first. And believe me, they don’t want to see my dark side.”

Wanda smiled as she looked up at him. “Thank you. For everything you have done for me and Pietro.”

He smiled right back, “No problem. Do you need anything else?”

Wanda shook her head and turned around, folding the cover back so she could lie back down in bed. Steve stood up and tucked her in. She was an adult already so it was kind of childish of him to do that. But she didn’t say anything of it and didn’t look like she was bothered by it.

“Goodnight, Steve,” she whispered, then she turned on her other side.

“Goodnight, Wanda,” Steve whispered back. He turned off the small light on the nightstand and left the room silently.

He was right, they hadn’t seen his dark side yet. He knew everyone saw him as patriotic and righteous and everything, but there was more than met the eye. Steve knew that people tended to see what they wanted to see. What they expected to see. They heard about some government experiment, made to serve America, who had fought the Germans and defeated Johann Schmidt, only to then sacrifice himself for the world by steering the plane he was flying in into the ocean.

It sounded all pretty heroic, so how could that man ever be bad? How could that man ever go in against the government? He was made by them so it would be strange if he didn’t do what they said, if he refused to be their puppet. That couldn’t be true. Captain America. See? It even was in the name! America!

Well, Steve was nobody’s puppet. He fought for freedom, equality and peace. Not for some asshole leaders who either used him to fight their causes, to promote their own ideas and opinions (“Captain America votes for the old American ways! Woman should know their places again!” “Yeah, that would be above you, buddy.”) or to pin blame on him. He was sick of it. They said war was over, but there was still so much shit going on in the world. Maybe World War was over, but all those little wars all around the globe weren’t. There were still people living in fear and poverty, so his job was far from done.

Where was he going again with this? There was a point to this…

Ah, right. Even before Steve Rogers became Steve Rogers, he was known to be protective. Not just ‘hey man, leave him alone!’ protective, but more like ‘You’re twice my height and width, but if you dare catcalling that random woman I have never met before again, I _will_ punch you in the face!’-protective. Imagine what he would do for his loved ones.

Spoiler; a lot. Threaten who he loved and you confirmed your early demise. There were literally no lengths Steven Rogers wouldn’t go for those he held dearly.

Then there was the last room he needed to check. Clint’s room. And as he suspected, it was empty. Steve let out a sigh and slowly shook his head. Of course Clint wasn’t in his room and asleep, what was he thinking? Clint was a bit like Tony in his sleeping habits.

Only while Tony wanted to stay awake to work Clint just randomly fell asleep about anywhere; the broom closet, the roof, on a couch, on top of the kitchen cabinets (that hung on the wall. The first time Clint had tried that the whole cabinet had crashed down and Clint had to get stitches in his head and they had to buy whole new tableware), in the bathroom tub (how did he even end up in there comfortable enough to sleep?) and in Natasha’s wardrobe (gave her quite the scare first time).

Steve had even found him underneath Bucky’s bed not too long ago. Bucky had woken up and noticed someone was underneath his bed. He was angry at first because it had scared him but after Clint explained himself he understood. In a way the reason why he was sleeping underneath Bucky’s bed was actually somewhat adorable. He said that he had a nightmare about the alien army but that he trusted Bucky to chase them away for him because Bucky was big and strong. How could Bucky be mad at that?

It didn’t take Steve long though to find out where Clint was now. The Hawk was in his nest. His nest was an extra level above the living room just underneath the ceiling with enough space for Clint to fit in. He was lying there, his cheek on the wooden floor of his nest, his bow in his hand and arrows behind him.

The way up to the nest was through convenient placed sockets on which one could stand to climb up (with a lot of practice because really, it was _not_ easy), and Steve peeked into the nest to see Clint was indeed up there. Asleep. 

He lowered back to the ground and grabbed two of the spare blankets from the couch and a pillow. With those he climbed back up (as far as he could go, it still wasn’t easy for him) and put them over Clint. He gingerly put the pillow underneath Clint’s head. Clint stirred slightly, grabbing the bow tighter and nuzzled the pillow before continuing his deep sleep. Even while being so close Steve barely heard Clint breathing. It always surprised him how quietly some of his team members could sleep.

Thor snored rather loudly, you could hear him in the next room if it wasn’t for the thick walls. Tony snored too, but softer. It was more like loud breathing than actually snoring. But Natasha, Clint and Bucky were so silent in their sleep it was either as if they weren’t there or they were dead. They had trained themselves to stay still for hours and apparently they also did that in their sleep. Bruce had a normal sleep. He didn't snore, just normally breathed. He did move a lot in his sleep so he would wake up with the bed sheets all tangled around him. Steve slept normally too, no snoring or complete silence. The only peculiar thing was that he laid incredibly still in his sleep, there was barely any movement. 

When he knew Clint was okay too he walked to the kitchen.

Steve put up some coffee and sat down in a comfortable chair, a notepad on his lap and a pencil in his hand. He wanted to draw a little before going to bed, to help him relax. He had to stop himself from chewing on the end of the pencil as he thought, it was a thing he found himself doing quite often. Sometimes guarding over the team was difficult. The team being so big and different from what Steve had been used to was so new to him, and a lot of times he didn’t know what to do.

His old team, the Howling Commando’s, were not half as… traumatized? Was that the word? Broken? Bizarre? They weren’t like this team. They had all been fairly stable and didn’t have some strange power to deal with. It had been more simple back then. There was a war, they fought it. That was about it. Yes, they had had to deal with a Super Serum enemy leader with strange weapons, but all those soldiers were just human.

Now they were fighting aliens and robots and then there were these stones that were more powerful than anything in the Universe which also granted these freaky powers, plus there was a Hulk and his best friend was a master assassin with a metal arm. It was all so complicated and far beyond Steve’s understanding.

But he managed, he just kept on going and did what he had always done.

He watched over his own.

  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Just to be clear, this is happening about a few weeks after Loki and Thor had their meeting and Loki came living with the Avengers]
> 
> Aww. Some sliver of Domestic!Avengers for you to enjoy. Should I add a 'Not Government Friendly' tag or does that speak for itself? I don't like the Government for every f'ing thing they have done to Steve and the Avengers in general. Like they keep saying the Avengers destroy cities and have the audacity to whine about it while they were ready to NUKE New York City!! Like what?? 
> 
> I love them all living together in the Avengers Head Quarters, so you're gonna hear some more about that ;)


	10. Once We Were Gods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Are you going to a Comic Con or something..?”
> 
> A what?
> 
> “Uh…” Hiccup answered.
> 
> “Are you wearing like a Viking cosplay, or are you on your way to a dress party?”

Toothless and Hiccup soared through a perfect blue sky. Billowing clouds rose like mountains. The ground seemed miles below them. Hiccup glanced back at the tail. Because it was a new one, made of a different kind of leather and paper than she normally used, she was going to be extra careful. They had to know if this fin would work before they went on dangerous adventures.

She looked back before her, patting the dragon’s head. “Okay there bud, we're gonna take this nice and slow.”

The dragon hummed, and Hiccup rolled her shoulders to loosen them up a bit. There was some wind, but not too much. The updraft was nice, so that was a plus. It was a lot like their first flight, only now they had a lot more experience, so their flight was automatically safer.

“Here we go. Let’s try this baby out.”

She pressed her heel down in the pedal, causing the tail to flare. Toothless looked back at the fin, it seemed to work just fine so he looked back before him. He snorted softly and narrowed his eyes. Ready to fly.

They rolled off into an arcing bank, gloriously lit by the late afternoon sun. Hiccup tucked tight against his neck, thrilled that the new tail was holding. As the other fins, this tailfin was quick and responsive. She watched Toothless' every fluctuation, trying to match it with the prosthetic. Hiccup sized up a target -- a towering arch of stone and ice, rising from the sea. So far, so good.

“Alright, it's go time. It's go time.”

Toothless locked his jaw and dipped his head, the rest of his body soon following. They dove toward it, lining up to pass through the arch. The wind blew through her hair, and she suddenly remembered she had forgotten to put on her helmet. Nothing she could do about that now.

“Come on,” she said, “Come on buddy. Come on buddy!”

They zipped through the arch. A perfect maneuver. And the new tailfin was still holding.

“Yeah! Yes, it worked!”

The triumph was short-lived. They almost smacked into one of several sea stacks as Hiccup tried to keep up with the turns. Okay, so this fin was fine, but it was a little floppy. It could do turns, but it reacted a bit more slowly than the Red III. She could live with that.

“Let’s go up, bud.”

She pressed her heel down in the pedal, the nose of her shoe pointing far up. She pulled at the edge of the saddle to help Toothless start climbing.

They pierced the clouds. Hiccup could see the sea below them, ice floating on top of the waves and the cold land covered in snow not too far away. It shrunk with every passing second.

She squealed and pressed herself even closer to her friend. Toothless’ wings and muscles expended to their limit, cording and snapped as he scooped them through the air, the speed kicked up and Hiccup ducked her head, shutting her eyes as the wind howled in her ears, her breath short as she tried to gasp in air. The Night Fury flew faster, each cell humming with speed, spurred on by the adrenaline and the rush of the moment.

“Yeah! Go baby! Yes!” she called out.

Toothless roared into the air, spinning around a few times in his freedom. It was amazing, it was wonderful. They were the embodiment of freedom, flying straight up as high as they pleased and soaring through the sky as nothing could ever stop them. Toothless banked and fell down on his side, back to the ocean.

At the last moment, Hiccup pressed down the stirrup and they rolled, Toothless’ wing cutting through the water shortly. They flew with reckless speed, slaloming between the floes of drift ice. This new tail allowed them to fly comfortably with the wind at their backs while viewing the constant vista of ice mountains and valleys, the ice-speckled ocean below them dotted with floes of drift ice.

“Okay, Bud. Let's try the new move,” Hiccup said.

They had to get a little higher at first, so Toothless beat his wings down to gain altitude. They flew at a cliff, coming in from the land side. They raced low to the ground, then as they reached the end Toothless dove down. Not too long after he shot right upwards.

“Woohoo! Yeah, baby! That's it, Toothless,” Hiccup yelled, feeling the rush of the moment as they climbed up into the sky. “Push it, you've got it! Climb higher!”

Toothless’ tongue lolled from his mouth. Hiccup laughed loudly, then her eyes became wide as she heard a familiar click. Her belt with the rings at the end unlatched from the saddle and she fell off.

“What the... Oh no, not again!” she said as she felt herself fall backwards, away from her friend. She was floating in the air for less than a second before her fall started. “Uh hey, Toothless!”

Toothless turned in the air and dove down, then falling parallel to Hiccup, who was falling head-first. She looked at her friend, who was looking back.

“Hey,” she said.

Toothless cooed at her.

“So, just plummet, or, uh any ideas?”

With a few beats of his wings, Toothless had surpassed her so he flew below her. Hiccup flipped her body in the air and landed on top of the dragon.

“You think the flight suit still works?”

Toothless rumbled.

“Oh, quiet, you. Don't even start.”

Toothless beat his wings to arc over an ice peak, rumbling again. He snorted, stretching his neck and pounded the air, wheeling and spinning to the spines of the ice peak mountains. The dragon pitched into a dive, plummeting along the outer curve of the peak swell towards the mainland. Hiccup tucked herself against Toothless' spine and neck, whispering into her partner's ear, urging him on, coaxing more speed from Toothless, promising him she would keep up with his flight.

The dragon roared into the air, turning directions and shooting up right beside an ice peak. He floated in the air for a moment, enjoying the view before he let himself fall down on his side, wings tucked in. Hiccup closed her eyes, letting the feeling of freedom and flight take over. 

They rolled and went back up. Hiccup was making herself ready to fly straight up into the air, when Toothless jerked and stopped, the sudden movement almost causing Hiccup to fall _again_. She shook her head, her stomach aching a little because of the jerking movement. The Night Fury sniffed the air and grumbled, his ears perking up. They twitched slightly, and again he grumbled deep inside his chest.

“What’s going on boy? Don’t like it here?"

Toothless snarled at some of the ice peaks. 

"Let’s go up then!”

Hiccup pressed her foot down in the pedal and the dragon arched up into the air. He wasn’t pounding his wings down with such determination as before. A little slower, a little more careful. Maybe he was afraid she fell again? If she fell like she had just fallen, there wasn’t a problem. Toothless could easily dive right after her and they could get back together in a few seconds.

Getting knocked off the saddle was another story, mainly because the thing that had knocked her off was dangerous and they had to deal with that also.

They spun around a single time in the air, feeling the cold wind rush along their bodies. “See, buddy? Nothing to–”

Something crashed against them from the side, knocking Hiccup right off the saddle. She had forgotten to hook herself to the saddle with the rings. So she found herself detached, free-falling. A screech came from their side, but it was not a sound a Night Fury could make. She had heard it before though. In the desert.

They were back.

“Oh gods! No!” Hiccup cried.

Without Hiccup, the tail lost control, and Toothless couldn’t fly anymore. Hiccup and Toothless spiraled downward. Toothless fought to get back under Hiccup, like a few minutes ago.

Hiccup was trying to calm Toothless, if he slipped into a panicked state they were done. “Alright, okay. You just gotta angle yourself.” She extended her arms and legs, giving herself as much surface area as she could.

“No, no... come back down towards me. Come back down—”

She angled back towards Toothless as the tumbling dragon whacked Hiccup with his wing. After a few more misses, Hiccup finally grabbed hold of the harness and managed to lock in -- just in time to pull Toothless out of his dive... barely shy of the ice peaks. Hiccup ducked to avoid being hit by one and rolled Toothless out of the way of another.

Hiccup and Toothless barely recovered from their roll, looped over the water, and they blasted further. They careened past the ice cliff and directly into a treacherous slalom course of jutting sea stacks.

There was no screech of the desert monster behind her, but she didn’t have time to look around.

With no time to think, Hiccup steered Toothless' tail on instinct... with perfect intuition. Together, they manage a tight, hair-raising series of split-second turns, making it to the open water, unscathed.

Hiccup took a breath and glanced back at the death-defying obstacle course, now safely behind them. She beamed, relieved. At least they had survived that. She sat back and let out the breath she hadn’t even realized she’d been holding.

Toothless sniffed the air and looked around, so did she. They didn’t see black monsters with yellow-reddish stripes. They didn’t see anything else at all. Just clouds and some seagulls. The monster must have followed her here, there was no other explanation. They had went after her through the desert, then when she got sucked up by the whirlwind they got sucked up too.

The thing that grabbed her underwater, when she had fallen into the ocean just after being sucked up, that _had_ to be that thing. That thing had made the cut on her forehead! Hiccup’s hand went up to carefully trace the cut with one finger. It didn’t hurt much anymore, only if she touched it. But further it was fine.

Okay, so those things had almost killed her on Ljósfold, and now they were after her again on Midgard. She had to evade them, or she’d be killed for real.

“So… wanna race to this ‘Canada’ place?”

The black dragon underneath her couldn’t agree more.

*******

She pressed the pedal down and Toothless flew up a cliff, his paws not touching the rocks by a hair's breadth. “Whoo-hoo!”

They shot further up in the air, Toothless was beating his wings down hard and his neck stretched out along those movements. Then he stopped beating and for a second they hung in the air. Hiccup leaned back, pulling at the saddle and they fell backwards. “We're going vertical, Toothless!”

Hiccup screamed in glee as Toothless dove down to the forest. She was tucked closely to his neck, pressing herself against his body not to fall off. They dove and dove, until they almost hit the trees and Hiccup pressed the pedal again.

WHOOSH!

A wash of black and brown colors blurred by. Toothless barreled past at a dizzying speed. He swiped and rolled into all directions, while they weaved between the trees, rocks and mountains of the land.

After flying for hours upon hours they had reached land. It was warmer here than at Greenland. There were more forests, more plants, more green in general. This big piece of land was called ‘America’ she thought, it seemed logically. This was the place Aklaq had sent her to, right? The name sounded cool. They had told her not to fly toward the middle of the country since there were a lot of villages and cities with a lot of people who could see her. Aklaq told her to stay more North, were ‘Canada’ lay. Canada… that was also such a cool name!

A blur flew into the air not so far from her. It had shot up from the trees and was racing into the air at high speed. It wasn’t that big, but it was fast. It had somewhat large wings, they were… brown? Maybe?

Hiccup spotted it and steered Toothless into a steep climb toward it. Maybe it was some kind of other dragon! Maybe she wasn’t alone!

“Up, up, up!”

But as she caught up with it she saw it was only a large bird. A bird with brown feathers and a white head. Not at all a dragon. It cried at her and flew away, Toothless’ roar spun after it, but the bird paid no mind.

There had been a time she had wanted to see no dragons, not even one. Then she wanted to find one certain type of dragon, other dragons were fine but she wanted to find another Night Fury. Now she was longing for any dragon at all. Funny how times changed.

The woodland seemed ominously quiet. They paused, hovering in the air, now that even the sound of beating wings was silent, all that could be heard was the susurration of the leaves in the gusty wind. Looking down, they were transfixed by the myriad of fluttering leaves that danced in the high boughs, making a living roof above them. They were calmed, almost hypnotized, but the longer they stared the more the leaves looked like eyes staring back up at them.

The old, yellow and brown leaves hustled in the wind, as the sounds of dead, weak trees, creak at every push the wind gave. Perhaps it was warmer down there, but up in the air the wind gave climbed through her leather outfit to the bottom of her spine. The brown branches and roof of green leafs created a home to many animals that needed a place to hide.

It was beautiful.

Toothless hummed and continued flying. Now they had to make a plan how they were going to find this Philip Coulson.

They could try and ask someone, but she didn’t know who. He sounded like an important person. As Aklaq said, he worked for an extra-governmental military counter-terrorism and intelligence agency, tasked with maintaining both national and global security. He had to be someone of great importance, if he was assigned a task like such.

Toothless stalled, diving a little faster and landed lightly on the springy moss. He shook his head and hummed at Hiccup as she dropped down from the saddle, a bit sore from the long flight. The dragon and rider shared a look, green locked with green.

“You wanna go find a village or hang around here some more?”

Toothless gurgled.

“Yeah, I don’t want to stay here any longer than is necessary either.”

It was true, she’d really like to go home. She had only here for like a day or two and she was already done with it. Discovering new places was fun, but not like this. Her dad must be worried sick, not to mention Gobber, Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotloud, the twins and everyone else of Berk. They had no idea where she was. What if they thought she was dead? What if they thought she had gotten into an accident, got captured, murdered or drowned? She could try to make the best out of it, but it was hard. Flying distracted her, but she couldn't keep that up forever. 

So when she had given Toothless some water to drink she climbed onto his back again. 

Suddenly she saw something move in the bushes to the right of them. She immediately stood up in the stirrups and pulled Inferno. The blade shot out and caught fire. She held it ready to use. Toothless' head came up and he swallowed a deep gulp of air, his stomach churning in a broil of heat. He opened his mouth, a greenish gas gathering with a purple glow and a high-pitched charging sound. His wings flared out and he arched his back slightly. 

A small bird flew out of the branches she had seen moving, after a few meters he sat down on another bush and whistled a tune. She relaxed and lowered the flaming sword. Toothless crushed the fire in his throat. The purple glow disappeared, a bit of steam came from his nose. 

“Just a bird.”

The dragon tucked his wings back against his body, but his ears moved around, trying to catch any suspicious sounds. Nothing. Only the ordinary forest sounds. He flared his wings and took off into the sky. 

Hiccup grabbed the spyglass from her saddlebag and put it against her eye. As they hovered above the trees she searched the area for any civilization. A house, a farm, a town. Anything would do. Her lips curled up in a smile as she aimed the spyglass at some smoke circling up from not too far away. She saw a rooftop.

“Gotcha.”

    

“No, Toothless, stop. You can’t come with me, I’m sorry.”

The dragon roared at her, his pupils dilating and his ears dropping. It was heart wrenching to look at but she knew he was acting. He had pulled this stunt before. Many, many times. So she had gotten used to it, kind of.

“You can’t come, they’ll see you. Believe me, it’s best if you just stay here, alright? I won’t be gone for long, promise.”

He whined and nudged her hip with his nose. She laid her hands on his head. “I’ll be back before you know it. You just stay hidden.”

The dragon whined again, nudging her once more. “I know, I know. But the moment I sense danger I’ll call you alright?”

He accepted it, but didn’t like it. Hiccup swung the strap of her bag across her chest and walked away from her dragon, at the direction where she had spotted the farm.

    

It turned out to be a well-kept farm, with a large barn next to it. Smoke billowed from the chimney above. A carefully cultivated field showed tight rows of emerging greenery - some sort of cabbage, Hiccup thought. As she approached, a man walked from the barn to the house, with a black cow on a rope. At first he did not notice the newcomer at all, but when he saw her he stopped. The cow immediately started to graze.

The man stared at her, unsure what to expect. He looked behind him shortly, and some other people walked out too. Hiccup held up her hands in a non-threatening gesture.

“I mean no harm, I promise. I would just like to know which way leads into town. I’m a little lost.”

She didn’t blame the poor people of this farm to be suspicious of her. She was wearing clothes odd for this world, was missing a leg and had a large shield on her back. She was no typical traveler, they knew that for sure. But Hiccup had been gifted with a friendly face, and a posture that did not intimidate many. She was tall, but slim, not many muscles on display. However, that did not mean she couldn’t put up a fight if she wanted to. Years of training, fighting and riding Toothless had made her more muscular and strong too. Still, she was often described as a walking and talking fishbone.

The rest of the family seemed to join the man. She had expected them to be suspicious, out here in the middle of nowhere, but _that_ suspicious… did they have something to hide? They couldn’t think _she_ , a young girl all alone, would form a threat? Oh well, you never knew.

There were five of ‘em. An older man and woman, about fifty, she estimated, a younger couple in their mid-thirties, and a boy, about ten. Grandpa and grandma, father and mother and their son, she thought. Three generations.

“What do you want?” the older woman asked, a rude undertone in her voice. Hiccup was a little taken aback by this.

“Uhm, I just wanted to know which way I have to go to find another town…” she trailed off a bit, vague gesturing around.

“That way,” the younger man said, the one who had been walking with the cow. While he said this he pointed at the way North. That was it, no route description, no names of the town, no estimation about how long it would take to get there. Just ‘that way’ and a finger pointing. Man, this was something else than those people in Greenland.

“Alright… thanks..?”

Hiccup started walking backwards, slowly. For some reason, she’d rather not turn her back to them. She was wearing her shield, yes, but still. Those staring eyes and expressionless faces gave her the creeps. She hoped that not all of the people around here would be that way, it would make her stay here a lot less comfortable and enjoyable.

When she felt she was far away enough she turned around and fastened her pace. A shiver worked through her frame; she would be happy when she was reunited with Toothless. But that had to wait until she came back from that town.

    

From a distance, the village they had been sent to didn’t look impressing. It was larger than the Greenland Tribe Village, but not much. But when they came closed Hiccup’s eyes almost rolled from their sockets in surprise.

The houses were made of brick and high, they had all kinds of windows with some sort transparent stone in them. It was like really thin ice you could see through, and it didn’t melt. The stone was red, but it was also there in other colors. The road was made of some sort black stone, very smooth with white stripes. There was just too much to see.

There were large poles with a protruding branch at the side, on which something that looked like a sphere of ice was placed. There were a lot at the side of the road, why? What did they do?

But one of the scariest things were the big growling beasts that sped past her over the black road. They were in all kinds of colors, most grey and black. There were a lot of the same things along the road. Hiccup walked closer at one, examining it carefully. It was an iron machine that somehow moved without horses or yaks. The one she was standing beside was silver colored with some dirty spots on it. It had four wheels, she saw. Not the kind of wheels she saw on a wooden cart such as the ones they had back on Berk. You know, the things you use to move food or stuff. These wheels were thick and had a black exterior.

Hiccup touched the wheel, it felt odd. It was thick and firm, and it stunk a bit. She couldn’t place the smell, she hadn’t come across that before. The machine thingy had multiple windows with the thin ice sheets you could look through. Inside the machine were seats. So you could sit in it. Before one of the seats was a steering wheel. She watched some of the same machines pass by on the road.

One slowed down beside another at the side of the road, before an empty spot. Hiccup watched the machine turn and… move? Into the empty spot. She saw a human sitting inside, a woman. She looked back in something that was protruding from the side of the car. She saw the reflection of the woman in the ice sheet. How fascinating. The woman was turning the steering wheel and Hiccup noticed the wheels of the machine moved along. They were connected somehow.

The machine stopped in the empty spot, suddenly the roaring stopped and the thing went silent, as if it had died. The woman opened the machine. There was a door! She stepped out and closed the door behind her. She had something in her hand that jingled, like keys. She held a very small black box-thing in her hand, pressed on it with her thumb and the car made a last sound. Like a lock closing. The woman walked away and Hiccup stayed behind, wondering where the hell she had end up. Self-moving machines… that was awesome! It made her a touch giddy to find out what else humans had developed.

The next thing she saw made her heart skip a beat. She saw a flat thing, like a board, and on it she saw other things happening than were happening around her. She saw a man in odd grey clothes say something, she walked closer.

“Experience comfort like you have never before.”

He was looking smugly, with extremely white teeth and a short haircut. She narrowed her eyes as the man was driving a piercing white machine like the others behind her. They drove across a road, but in a flash they looked at the machine from the other side. Flash, flash, flash, the view kept changing. It made Hiccup both curious and terrified. What kind of witchcraft was this? How did they do this? How did those humans get inside that flat thing?

Words appeared at the bottom of the flat thing, at least, she thought they were words. She couldn’t read them. They were nothing like her writing. It must be English, she thought. English was a standard language, even throughout the Universe. They didn’t know this, but humans hadn’t come up with the language in the first place. Nobody knew who did, but it was regarded a standard language. She could speak it, but she couldn’t read it.

She took a step back and looked around her once more. She noticed some people staring at her as they passed by, but most of them kept looking in front of them, not paying attention to anything. She figured she must look odd, with the black body armor and all the leather. She had shoulder pads and the black leather boots.

Not to mention her metal leg.

All the people around her were wearing entirely different clothes. Colorful clothes with prints. Black pants, grey pants, white pants, green pants. All kinds of shirts; white with stripes, white with flowers, grey with a… cat? They also had funny bags with two straps that were around their shoulders.

It seemed a lot more practical than her one strap bag she slung around her shoulder. Some were wearing same bags as she did, a lot of women did. But their bags were another type of shape, and in totally different colors. Bright red, or white, or with funny prints. She had a simple, brown bag with the silhouette of a Night Fury on it.

She walked further down the road, curious to everything around her. They had houses were the doors were open and people just walked inside. How odd. Unless… they were shops? Stores? Like a market? The stores had big windows with the thin, ice sheets in them. Through the not-melting ice she saw some sort of life-size dolls without a face wearing colorful, bright clothes. They were all set into a position and just stood there. Hiccup noticed other people stopped to look at them for a short time, then continued walking.

It made her a bit scared to know how far behind she was on these people regarding technology and well... about everything else. These people had different weapons, different strategies, odd inventions... they had about everything. Hiccup had always thought she was always one step ahead back at home, with her flaming sword and her shield, even the tailfin. But now she noticed that that was not the case. She was nothing here, she wasn't special. At Berk, she was about the smartest person around, here, she felt dumb. 

“Mommy, mommy! What happened to that girl’s leg?” a voice then called out from behind her.

Hiccup turned around to face a middle-aged woman with a small boy at her side. They were holding hands, and the boy was pointing at her leg with his other. “Michael!” the woman hissed, “That’s no polite!”

She looked up at Hiccup shortly, “I’m so sorry. He is in his curiosity period and picks up and points at literally everything.”

“Oh, that’s okay. He’s just a little boy, they can get like that. They have yet to discover the world after all!” Hiccup said, she walked a little closer and kneeled down before the kid. Her metal leg was the one standing upright, her real foot laid on the floor. “I lost it in a fight with a dragon,” she said, fully aware they would never believe her.

The boy was slack-jawed. “Really?” he whispered.

Hiccup nodded seriously, “Yes. It was chasing me. There was a lot of fire, and I fell. I was saved by my friend so I was alright, my foot just couldn’t be saved. So another friend of mine made me this prosthesis so I could still walk.”

She knew the mother would hear ‘fire’ and ‘fell’, so she would assume Hiccup just lost her foot in a house fire or whatever and was telling this dragon story to make it sound cooler for the boy.

Hiccup stood back up and nodded at the two, then taking off again.

“Bye,” the boy whispered. Hiccup looked over her shoulder and winked back.

Maybe some of these humans would be rude and ignore her, but it wasn’t hard to imagine there would be some nice ones. She just hoped she didn’t look like a beggar to them, or a dangerous creep. She was lucky she was slender and a girl. She knew it sounded sexist but a woman in clothes like this seemed less threatening than a man in clothes like this. Men came across as threatening a whole lot faster than woman. She had to come up with a cover if someone were to ask. What would be a believable cover?

Her gaze wondered down the street, but she didn’t find anything she could use. She ran the back of her hand underneath her nose and stopped at the side of the street, waiting for a moment to cross. The machines shot past and to be honest, Hiccup was scared to cross the street. Never mind then.

Still, she got stared at, but she ignored it. Not only the sight of her called attention toward her, the clicking of her prosthesis did too. People would look up at the odd sound and try to locate the source of the clicking. She got some pitiful looks, and some curious ones. Imagine what would have happened if she had taken Toothless with her.

The next humans to approach her were two girls, wearing tight, light blue pants and shirts with short sleeves. One had curly brown hair, the other had her hair tied in a ponytail. They were giggling and seemed hesitant to walk up at her. But they did anyway.

“Hi there!” they said, Hiccup turned to them.

“Hello.”

The two girls looked at each other and giggled again, both had red cheeks. Blushing? Were they shy? Ah, she recognized the looks in their eyes. They both wanted the other to interact. Eventually the girl with the curly hair spoke.

“Are you going to a Comic Con or something..?”

A what?

“Uh…” Hiccup answered.

“Are you wearing like a Viking cosplay, or are you on your way to a dress party?”

God, she had no idea what the girl meant. Cosplay? Dress party?

“The latter,” Hiccup said, “Yeah uh, my friend has his birthday party, and uh, yeah.” She hoped that was enough explanation.

“Cool!” the girl with the ponytail said, “Where did you get the outfit? It’s awesome!”

“Made it myself. Just some leather and some hard work. It took a while but I like the result.”

“It’s so amazing!” the girl with curly hair said. “Well, it was nice speaking with you, bye! Have fun on the party!”

Hiccup was happy when the girls left. She really needed something to cover this up, she didn’t feel like explaining herself all the time. Though she did get a nice excuse; dress up party.

She didn’t know exactly what she was looking for, but she guessed it was something like a place with the Village eldest (though she doubted this town even had one of those), or like a place where you could orientate yourself. She needed intel about this Phillip guy, but she had no idea if she could get that here. She could ask someone, but what exactly would she ask? She didn’t even know what she was looking for herself.

Slowly but surely, a faint sense of panic started to seep in. She didn’t know where she was or how she even came her, she knew no one, she didn’t know the culture nor did she have any money. Yeah, she had gold pieces but she doubted she could pay with that out here. She had some reserves, like strips of dried meat, some fruit, some bread and a bottle of water (the people from Greenland had given it to her for her journey), but she would run out soon and then what? She guessed she could try catch some wild animals herself but her options were limited. She had been told humans inhabited most of the Earth, and that hunting would get a lot harder than she thought.

She would run out of resources and then what? Just fly around Midgard forever? Never see her family again?

There wasn’t much she could do here so she made her way back out of the town, to the forest not too far away. Toothless was hidden somewhere there, and with him she could start formulating a plan.

     

She started out planning and writing down possible scenarios of what could happen, but she ended up sitting defeated against a tree shortly after. Toothless lay beside her, not knowing what to do either. She just didn’t have any options, she had nowhere to turn to. Yes, she could go back to Aklaq’s tribe, but what would that do for her? Then she stayed there, not knowing where to go or what to do either. She was on unknown land, landed here in an unknown and most likely illegal way, and she had no way of getting back.

Had that been Ragnar’s plan all along? To offer her a job for him, and when she refused he decided to drop her off on an unknown Realm where she would be stuck so he could do whatever he wanted in her own? Stuck here, while he was doing Thor knew what on Ljósfold. What if he was attacking Berk? What if her father was in danger? What if he was capturing all the dragons he wanted because she wasn’t there to stop him? What if he was destroying Berk right now?

Her friends could be in danger, her whole tribe could be in danger and she’d never know it. Her home could be destroyed, and even if she knew it was happening there was nothing she could do about it.  

Was she ever getting home again?

Her eyes starting to sting and she aggressively rubbed them. Toothless cooed at her, nudging his nose against her leg. She laid her hand on his head. “I know, bud. At least we’re in this together.”

They both sat in silence.

Toothless lifted his head up, like he had just gotten a fantastic idea, his tongue lolling from his mouth. He lifted up his tail and showed her the fins. Then he stood up and turned his side at her, almost pushing the saddle in her face. She conjured a faint smile on her face. You always know how to cheer me up, don’t you, bud?”

Toothless yapped at her happily.

    

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This wasn't a very long one. I hope you enjoyed it anyway! It surprises me how much people actually click on this story, like, how? How did you find this? What did you do that directed you to my story? Am I on a list somewhere under a certain tag or..? 
> 
> My laptop is broke, I think, so that's fun. Like, videos and ads and everything on the internet just randomly zooms in and blurs and turns grey? What? Applications don't work anymore. And on Google all my text like 'disappears', I can still see it but it's distorted, chunks are missing and it's impossible to read. I'm gonna buy a new one this weekend because I DON'T want to lose all my writing when this laptop decides to crash and give up. Better put my stuff in Google Drive or something... 
> 
> Next will be sum Avengers again. See ya next time!


	11. 100 Times A Therapist Was Needed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “If you step through that door–”
> 
> “Clint, you’ve got to stop making people Avengers, you don’t have the authority!”
> 
> “Steve, but this one has promise–”
> 
> “CLINT THAT’S A PIGEON!”

“If you step through that door–”

“Clint, you’ve _got_ to stop making people Avengers, you don’t have the authority!”

“Steve, but this one has _promise_ –”

“CLINT THAT’S A PIGEON!”

Clint angrily crossed his arms like a toddler and watched the beautiful, white pigeon ruffle his feathers and peck at the ground. He had trained this amazing creature for weeks now. He had learned it to go and collect certain things for him. He could give him messages that he would deliver straight to Stark Tower to one of the other Avengers so if he needed help they would know. This pigeon followed him around, waiting for orders and Clint just thought he had so much promise…

He glared at Steve and did as if he hadn’t heard the Captain. He focused his eyes on the bird again and pointed at the door that lead to the hallway. He just needed a random door. “Listen, Thundersnow, if you step through that door–”

“Clint, stop!” Steve said again.

Clint rolled his eyes and came up from his knees. “Let me ask you a question,” he said, irritated. “Do you think it’s _easy_ to train a pigeon?” He made an annoyed gesture at Thundersnow, who cooed and pecked the floor again. “Well, it’s not! It takes hard work, blood, sweat and many tears to accomplish this. And I’m not throwing it away just because you don’t want a pigeon on your team!” 

The Captain crossed his arms before his chest too and looked directly into Clint’s eyes. He leaned forward slightly, tensing his muscles to look bigger as he took on his dominant pose. And it worked. Of course it worked. Clint felt his stubbornness flow away like water through a drain and he shrugged vaguely as he side-glanced the pigeon. “I mean…” he said, trailing off, but he found his voice back. “He can be useful!”

Steve didn’t say anything, just stared at Clint with his eyebrows of disappointment and his lips pressed to the line of anger. Great. Now he was having both. To have one of those things was bad enough but now he had the eyebrows _and_ the line. He did not like that. It was so weird. Something had been going on with Steve, everyone had been noticing it. It wasn’t as clear as Loki (who looked troubled also, but that was probably for a different reason), but it was there. He was a tad bit grumpier and less tolerant. It became worse and worse.

“Clint,” Steve said calmly, “Release the pigeon.”

The archer regarded the pigeon. The beautiful, snow-white pigeon in which he had put so damn much work. Did Steve want him to just _release_ Thundersnow? Sorry sir, no can do. That pigeon was _special_ , he was powerful and smart. There was no way he was going to let such a valuable asset slip through his fingers, nobody could take the bird away from him. But at the other hand, Steve kept staring at him with those furrowed eyebrows and the thin line for a mouth. He needed help. He needed backup.

“Sam would want him to be on the team,” Clint said, defending both him and the bird.

Steve raised one of his eyebrows and his weight shifted to his right leg. He was not believing shit of it. Okay. Different approach.

“The others would like to have a bird on the team. A real bird. He can deliver secret messages!”

“We have phones, Clint.”

Less. Tolerant.

“Phones can be tapped. Pigeons can’t. They can also reach people who don’t have a phone. And he can spy! He’s the perfect spy! Steve, you have _got_ to admit, Thundersnow can get anywhere without being suspicious. We can barely get out there anymore without being recognized but a pigeon can get anywhere he wants and will never be recognized!”

The Captain was silent for a moment, his eyes not staring directly at Clint anymore. He was thinking. Yes, thinking was good. Thinking meant considering, considering meant doubting, doubting meant being able to be persuaded, being able to be persuaded meant Clint had a chance of keeping the bird!

“Think about it,” he continued, “If you see a pigeon in an abandoned warehouse you don’t think anything of it. You certainly don’t think it’s a spy! It’s just a pigeon after all. Just some bird like ten other birds. But what if we attach a camera to him? He can get incredibly close without anyone expecting anything! He can give us valuable intel!”

Clint looked at Steve, pouting and blinking his lashes fast, trying to look as if he was begging but with some self-respect left. The Captain brought his hand up and rubbed the bridge of his nose, sighing shortly. Clint took a sharp intake of breath through his nose and his hand clasped his wrist, nails digging into his skin. He wanted this so bad. So damn bad. Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, PLEASE let him have this. Please Steve, please.

“Please, Stevie?” Clint tried.

The Captain pressed his lips onto each other, looking away for a moment, then settling his look onto the pigeon. The bird was patiently standing on the ground, occasionally pecking the floor or walking a small circle but not doing a lot more. He tried Stevie, because he knew a certain person often called him that and Stevie had a weak spot for that certain person.

“Clint,” Steve said slowly, saying the name with a small sigh, and Clint already felt his stomach clench, “We can’t just keep a pigeon.”

“I have been taking care of him for weeks, months even! He’s just a _pigeon_ , not a bird of prey! He’s a little bird with little needs. Just some food and love, not very much more. And we have a bond! Look! Thundersnow.” The pigeon reacted to the name and looked up. Clint tapped his arm. To Steve’s surprise the bird spread his wings and took off, then stretching his little claws out to land onto Clint’s arm.

“See?” Clint said, looking at Steve with eyes filled with hope. The pigeon was smart, he could learn a lot and he could do a lot for the team. Not the mention he was nice company to Clint. He followed the archer everywhere, not judging him and he could rant about everyone and everything that bothered for hours without boring Thundersnow.

The pigeon was a very patient listener and gave little coos at the right time. Also, it just felt like a bless that the pigeon pecked his cheek every morning at the exact same time his alarm clock would go off, like his personal, living alarm. He just felt like an extra friend. The others were amazing but this pigeon, Thundersnow, was just _special_. A dog would have been better, because dogs are always better, but he knew Steve would react to a dog like Clint had asked him to keep an elephant.

“Please,” Clint said again, stroking the pigeon’s head with one finger.

“No,” Steve said, and Clint felt his heart break. He looked at his feathered friend with a sad look. So… now he had to say goodbye to him? This was it? This was all? He and Thundersnow were no more. Team Snowhawk was dead, destroyed. Clint felt his lips turn into an actual sad pout. The corners of his mouth twitched down, and he felt _sad_. He felt his eyes sting and he swallowed thickly.

“I’m sorry, Clint, I really am, but we can’t just keep a–”

“Is that a pigeon?”

Both the Captain as the archer spooked up at the sudden, soft but rough, voice that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. They saw Barnes standing closely. He was wearing black jeans, a black hoodie and black combat boots. His half-long hair was ever falling in front of his face like a curtain. His eyes looked somewhat curiously at the bird perked up on Clint’s arm. Barnes’ head was cocked to the side slightly, only implying further that the man was indeed curious to the bird. That could work in Clint’s advantage!

“Yes,” Clint said. Then he held his arm out a bit towards the soldier, not too fast and not too far as he didn’t want to spook him. “I called him Thundersnow. I have trained him, and I want to use him on missions. He can be a perfect spy. You can pet him if you like. He’s friendly.”

To their surprise Barnes slowly extended his hand towards the bird, there was a wary look in his eyes and the fingers of his metal arm flexed, but he did reach out, which was more than any of them could have hoped for. Clint made a mental note, the dude liked animals.

With his flesh fingers, Barnes stroked the pigeon’s head. The bird sat there in silence, letting out an occasional roo-coo. Steve looked from Barnes, to the pigeon, to Clint and back at Barnes. The silent judging look at Clint turned into something soft and endearing at Bucky. Of course, when it was about one Bucky Barnes, Steve could do nothing else.

This was his chance. Maybe he could even keep Thundersnow!

“I like him,” Barnes’ quiet voice said, then he pulled his hand back and stepped away from the others a bit, his hair falling back before his eyes.

“I guess…” Steve said, taking a small breath. Clint breathed in deeply and held it. “I guess we can keep him.”

He could kiss that traumatized, brainwashed super soldier! He had just saved team Snowhawk! He looked at Barnes with a big smile and saw the soldier was a bit hunched into himself again, his eyes staring into a void and his hair hiding his face. Barnes didn’t talk much or interacted much with others. But that was okay. It was okay to Clint.

Steve shook his head a bit, “Really. If the twins are gonna jump me with the request to keep a penguin that’s _your_ fault!” And walked away from the two, mumbling something about being too soft and something about manipulation. They heard a door closing.

Clint glanced at Barnes and saw he had lifted his head up again, his hair falling to the sides of his face, exposing his eyes. He wasn’t exactly smirking or anything, but he did look a bit smug somehow. He was looking back at Clint. “I got nothin’ with pigeons. But you two make a nice duo,” he said, before taking off.

Clint stood there for a moment in silence before he said ‘OOOHH’ out loud and shook his head with a grin on his face. Thundersnow cooed and took off, quickly flying away to sit on the backrest of the couch. That assassin had downright _manipulated_ Steve into letting Clint keep the pigeon! He didn’t have anything with birds, but he must have seen him and Steve argue about keeping it and decided he wanted to let Clint keep Thundersnow!

That earned him points for team Winterhawk. Clint grabbed a little notebook from his pocked, leafed through it until he had found the ‘Winterhawk’ page and scribbled down Barnes had helped him persuade Steve into keeping Thundersnow. He held scores, a bit like Natasha did with her notebook. If she had red in her ledger, she liked to wipe it out.

When he was done he closed the book again and put it back in his pocket. He whistled a high, short tone and tapped his arm, then walking out of the room too as Thundersnow had returned to his arm. Steve had said he could keep the bird, so he was keeping the bird. No take-backsies!

So Clint picked up his pigeon again and made his way to his room, a little skip in his steps. Thundersnow would have a nice home here. Now he only needed to use his super spy skills to find out what was going on with Steve. And Loki. Maybe they were both cursed? But by who?

In the few missions Loki had been on (very few, simple missions of taking out some small terrorists and maybe a small group of Hydra soldiers), they had never encountered a witch or enhanced humans. No one had cast a curse, so that didn’t make any sense. Steve had been talking about a weird feeling in his stomach, but Tony had brushed it off and said it was probably a stomach ache.

But Clint has had kids with the stomach flu and really, that was something nasty that you never forget. A stomach flu felt like someone was constantly stabbing you and not even one position was comfortable. You couldn’t eat, sometimes you couldn’t even walk because of the pain. Steve didn’t have a stomach flu. Clint suspected the man from having some sort of weird gut feeling.

The super soldier serum enhanced his senses, so why not his sixth sense? But then again, what kind of bad thing could be happening? All was fine. Hydra had been almost completely taken down, Ultron had been gone for long, the team was all nice and cozy here together. Okay, Loki was here too, but he was behaving fine.

Then suddenly he realized something. Not only Steve, but Loki too was looking like something bad was going to happen. But neither wanted to talk about it. Not that Clint gave Loki any chance to talk about it, though.

Speaking of the devil, as Clint skirted around the corner he saw Loki leaning against the wall next to the door of Clint’s room. Which was rare. Loki was still a lot at Tony’s house but the times that he was here, he and Clint actively avoided each other. Did he want to talk? Clint wasn’t the biggest fan of Loki since the whole ‘Mind Control’ thing, he had done bad things while under Loki’s control and he wasn’t sure if he was ever going to forgive the man.

He couldn’t help it, but even after Loki had helped out a few times (nothing big, just some small healing and maybe perhaps he had even sort of saved Natasha’s life by shielding her from bullets with a magic shield) he still saw the man as someone who used other people to achieve his own goals, not caring about who he hurt in the process. He cared about himself and only himself. Loki always looked after Loki. The rest could perish.

“Whatcha doing here?” Clint asked, standing a few feet away from the man. He felt no need to get closer.

Loki didn’t answer, he kept staring at the opposite wall with these oddly hollow eyes, and he was pulling his sleeves up, so they covered his hands. It could be that Loki was ignoring him, wouldn’t be the odd since Clint ignored him too, but Clint somehow got the feeling he _hadn’t_ _heard_ him. He had spoken quite clearly but still… Clint didn’t want to be rude, so he said,

“Hi, Loki.”

Still no answer. Was this ignoring or could Loki seriously not hear him? Thundersnow cooed and turned his head to look at Clint with one eye. Clint looked back and shrugged. Then he cautiously approached the trickster god, not wanting himself ending up being cursed or stabbed. He tapped Loki on the shoulder and braced himself for impact.

Nothing.

Loki merely turned his head and blinked a few times as if waking up from some kind of trance. “Barton…” he said, almost sounding surprised. He looked around the hallway they were standing in, his gaze lingered on the pigeon on Clint’s shoulder for a moment but moved on again.

“What are you doing here?” Loki asked, making Clint frown.

“What am _I_ doing here? What are _you_ doing here, you mean?”

Loki looked a bit baffled. “This is my room?” he said, his hand briefly gesturing at the door.

“Eh, no. That’s _my_ room,” Clint said.

Loki came up from against the wall and took a few steps back to look at the door from a small distance. He kept staring at the door as if it would suddenly come loose from the wall and start dancing or something. The purple arrow on the door was unmistakable, since Loki had a green snake on his own. Seconds passed. Clint counted them in his head.

_One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen. Sixteen. Seventeen. Eighteen. Nineteen. Twenty. Twenty-one. Twenty-two. Twen –_

“I believe you’re right,” Loki said finally. Gosh, why the long silence? Twenty-two seconds are long! It made Clint wonder what was going through the man’s head at that moment. What he was thinking. Something weird was definitely going on. Maybe it was like PTSD or something. Steve could have nasty dreams about the war, maybe Loki had bad dreams about his time in captivity. Maybe with the stress that had been going with the Government and Ultron and all those things, the bad dreams could sneak in easier. 

Loki looked at him, still frowning, “My mistake.”

Then he walked away, leaving Clint behind who kept staring at his back until he had disappeared around the corner. Was that it? A soft ‘my mistake’ and then he just took off? Man, he was so curious about what was going on with Loki and Steve. He knew Loki had been through torture, through horrible things. But he didn’t know exactly what kind of torture, just ‘horrible’.

He sighed a bit and looked at his shoulder, only to see Thundersnow gone. Wait, what? He looked around; at the ground, the window, down the hallway. His pigeon was gone, like that. He scratched his head. “Thundersnow?”

_'Roo-coo, roo-coo'_

“ _Shit_ ,” Clint hissed, he looked up at the vent cover high in the wall. The cover was missing, so there was a large hole in the wall that led through the whole building.

Thundersnow had flown into the vents.

\---

Clint usually loved to crawl inside the vents and use them to go from room to room without being seen. Being heard was another story, as those things made a hell of a lot noise, but after years training he could be as silent as a mouse. He usually loved exploring them and just crawling around.

But now it was just inconvenient. That white pigeon had flown somewhere in here and Clint needed to find him before Steve noticed he was gone, because Steve didn’t like it when people sneaked through the vents. He said it was dangerous and _blah blah blah_ , something to do with collapse hazard or with getting stuck, or whatever. Also, because about every room in the building had a vent cover and it was a violation of privacy to spy on people through them.

To make matters a hundred times worse, Clint ended up next to the vent cover of _Loki’s_ room, because Thundersnow was that nice. He had to be extra quiet, or the god would surely hear him. And he did not want that. The god was pacing, back and forth, not speaking or doing anything else. Pacing.

Clint pulled himself further through the vent, keeping his eyes on Loki to see if the god was onto him.

Loki stopped for a moment, looking up at the vent cover and Clint held his breath. But the god picked up his pace and started again. _Phew_ , he hadn’t noticed anything. Thank goodness. If Loki knew Clint was watching him, that would be catastrophic. Loki wouldn’t just kill Clint, he would torture him slowly until he was begging for death and then Loki would be merciful by thrusting a dagger through his heart. Not to mention what he would do to Thundersnow. Probably eat him.

The others (mostly Steve, Thor and Tony) had told him to let go of that imagine of Loki he still had in his head. This wasn’t that Loki anymore. This Loki was someone else and though they understood and didn’t blame Clint, they still asked him if he could take that into account. They weren’t urging him to do anything, they were just trying to tell him that hating on this Loki wouldn’t get them anywhere.

The longer he crawled through the vents, the more his arms began to hurt and the more he started to feel annoyed. Thundersnow just wouldn’t listen to him and kept flying further into the building’s vents. Maybe Steve was a tiny bit right.

“Stupid Captain, he’s always gotta be right and everything,” Clint mumbled to himself, “I mean – who does he think he is? The president? ‘We have phones, Clint, we don’t need a pigeon!’ You’re a phone, Steve! No wait… that doesn’t make any sense…”

“Clint?” he heard coming from the living room. Immediately he froze dead in his tracks. Oh man. He’s been heard. Clint held in his breath and closed his eyes, hoping that whoever it was would go away.

“Clint is that you?”

Crap. It was Tony.

He couldn’t use Tony right now. He had to find Thundersnow, who was hiding somewhere in these vents, and take him to safety before Steve would take him away and make him into a stew. Steve might be innocent regarding the ‘dirtier’ matters, but this man still had the guts to kill his enemies, to shoot them in the head. Thundersnow had walked away from Loki’s vent cover and went somewhere, but Clint didn’t know where.

“Clint, I know you’re in the vents! Get down from there!” Tony called out.

Clint rolled his eyes and ignored the man. He crawled further. Tony was the least of his worries right now. He also had to deal with this stupid feeling of doubt that Steve had given him.

He actually had wanted to use Thundersnow for a different reason than he had given Steve. He wanted to use the pigeon to spy, but actually not necessarily on _enemies_ …

He wanted to use Thundersnow to spy on Loki.

But not like, _spying_ spying, just… watching him to make sure he didn’t do any suspicious things like stabbing people or manipulating them. Clint had been very careful around Loki when he was here, maybe even watched him secretly, to know what his game was.

Maybe it wasn’t very decent to spy on Loki but come on! The guy’s a criminal! He tried to kill them! He killed Coulson! He used that stupid Mind Stone to mind control Clint and make him do awful things! So excuse him for wanting to keep an eye on the trickster.

“I’m going to call Steve!” Tony said.

“Go ahead!” Clint yelled back, “I’ll fight him!”

He really hated that Mind Stone thing. And to make things even worse that stone was in Vision’s head. Right there, in the middle of his forehead. That thing partially _was_ Vision. Most of him was Jarvis, Tony and Bruce, but a part of him was the stone. The stone gave him power.

Clint remembered the Scepter of Loki all too well. The others had told him that they had gotten into bad fights because of its effect on them. Even when they weren’t touching it. The closer they got to that thing the more aggressive and angrier they behaved.

They had picked this fight with each other and said some hurtful things. Even Thor was affected by it. The God of Thunder had told him the scepter gave him this strange feeling; like anger, a feeling of unfairness, and like the whole world just sucked and was against him. The Scepter had a weird influence on everyone coming close to it, that was for sure.

“Fine. I’ll call Natasha!” Tony said.

Clint’s eyes widened. Good grief no. He squirmed his way through the vents to the nearest vent cover, opened it and poked his head out. “Please no!” he said, “I’m coming out!”

The only question was; how was he going to do that? He couldn’t just let himself drop headfirst to the ground, he would break his neck. He looked up at Tony, putting on his best pleading face.

“Tony, please help. I’m kinda stuck.”

“Fine, I’ll call Steve.”

“On a second thought, I can easily come out! Watch.”

He carefully let himself slide down, head first, but spread his legs so they were pressed against the sides of the vent, holding himself in place so he didn’t fall. Then he pulled himself up using his abs and grabbed the thin edges of the vent cover. He somehow managed to pull his legs out and let himself drop down, landing on his feet first, then with his hands on the ground too. Like a cat.

Tony watched him as he came up and walked at him, wiping some dust of his clothes. The vents were always pretty dusty; another reason why Cap didn’t want everyone to crawl through it.

“I heard you and Cap had an argument,” Tony said.

“Hm-hm.”

“Why were you in a fight?”

“We weren’t in a real fight, just had a disagreement.”

Tony made an impatient gesture with his hands, “But, what happened?”

Clint sighed and shrugged vaguely, his right shoulder moving up a bit, “Well. Cap was all like: BLAH BLAH YOU CAN’T JUST DO THAT OOOOH I’M CAPTAIN AMERICA, I’M ALWAYS RIGHT BLAH BLAH.”

“Eh…” Tony said.

“And then I was like, BUT I WANT THIS STEVE, UGH, WOE IS ME, WHY CAN’T I HAVE NICE THINGS?!”

“…”

Clint shrugged again. “I have a pigeon, Steve doesn’t want it, and I’m still stuck on disliking Loki. I can’t help it, I don’t trust the guy. Maybe you do, but I’m having difficulties here. I don’t hate him anymore, but I still don’t like him.”

“Oh,” was all Tony had to say. Clint knew Loki and Tony had this… friendship thing going on between them. Tony had nursed Loki back to health (mostly, it was still work in progress), and that had made them close. Tony kept saying Loki deserved a second chance and Loki seemed to honestly trust Tony.

Whatever, they did their things, Clint did his own. “Excuse me, I need to find a pigeon before it ends up in a pigeon stew.”

He turned around and walked back at the vent. Behind him, Tony walked away without saying another word.

  

* * *

   

While Clint had his things to deal with, Tony had his own. Maybe Clint was still stuck with the old Loki in his mind, Tony couldn’t help but having conflicted thoughts about Bucky. He hadn’t changed his mind about forgiving the man, it wasn’t like that. But he couldn’t help but sometimes just fall into silence, thinking back about what happened.

Since the first time he had talked with Steve about him, Tony knew he’d forgive this man, even before he met the infamous Bucky Barnes. Tony was called to the hospital because Steve had something important to say, something he thought Tony needed to hear as soon as possible.

So as soon as Tony had entered the room and ever before he could properly sit down in a chair Steve started his story about the Winter Soldier and the Starks, about the car accident, about everything, while still lying in that hospital bed with the nurses coming in every few minutes to tell him he had to take it easy and rest, as this was not helping his health.

Not that Steve cared about that, his stubborn ass was determined to tell Tony everything, even when it was barely a few days after his fight and the unfortunate swim in the Potomac, and only like an hour or so after he had woken up from his comatose state.

What Steve told him, and how desperate he was to tell Tony about those things made all the difference in the world. Tony could picture Steve holding it back from him, but frankly he could picture anyone holding such information back from him. It wouldn’t be the first time and certainly not the last someone had done such a thing, claiming it would be for ‘his own good’.

It mattered much because Bucky Barnes was Steve Rogers’ best friend since childhood and Steve had been beaten half to death because he never gave up on his friend, which meant he cared a lot for Bucky and would do anything for him.

Tony was glad Steve had told him. It made him feel this little better in the time of feeling like shit that had yet to come. Steve trusted him enough to tell him this, though he couldn’t know if Tony was going to start a manhunt to find the killer of his parents and kill that man himself or not.

The confession gave Tony time to grieve, to cry and rage and scream and trash in the privacy and safety of his home. Where his friends were to give him this little bit of comfort where he needed it. He didn’t let many people in, as most of the Avengers were on a wild chase to try and safe as many compromised SHIELD agents as they could after the data dump. Rhodey was there, leaving Tony alone for most of the time but together with Pepper he helped Tony feel like he wasn’t alone in the world.

Learning the truth about his parents turned him right back into that young kid with his heart torn open, bleeding all over again with salt being thrown into his fresh wounds. He knew that if Steve had seen it, there was surveillance footage, so he went to find it. He found it buried in the data dump while he tried to code as many files from good people as possible, even in his state of grieving. He took the files offline again and encrypted them. Eventually he found the footage.

_Mission Report. December 16. 1991._

Tony watched, over and over, as the Winter Soldier murdered his parents. He saw how the Soldier drove his motorcycle alongside his parent’s car, how the car crashed into a tree, how the Soldier opened the trunk... Tony saw how his father fell out the car, the Winter Soldier pulled his head up by his hair and beat him. Two times was enough. Then he put Howard back behind the steering wheel. He walked around the car and… choked Tony’s mom.

At first, there was nothing but grief and unadulterated rage inside him. He wanted to throw things, punch something, rip all his hair out and just bang his head against the wall. There was nothing but pain, so much pain. He screamed, knowing nobody could hear him because of the soundproof walls. He screamed, and he threw some things to the ground. He broke some glasses, a mug and even an old invention or two.

But it didn’t take long for that anger and pain to lessen. To turn into something else. It didn’t take long for Tony to look at the footage and see what was really going on. The images flashed in front of his eyes, showing him his parents weren’t the only victims that night. He saw this empty shell of a man, doing only what he was told. His movements were robotic and he didn’t hesitate a single second.

 It wasn’t Bucky Barnes who killed Tony’s parents, it was Hydra. Only Hydra.

Once Tony let that reality sink in deep, sitting heavy and cold in his chest like a chunk of ice, only then did he start to heal again. Only then did his wounds bleed less. After he had accepted that this would be the new reality, the one where his mom and dad hadn’t gone at least somewhat peacefully by a car accident but were brutally murdered by a Hydra assassin, only then did he come out of his workshop.

He hadn’t showered for a long time and had knocked back at least a few bottles of scotch, so his appearance was outright pathetic. That part the others had somewhat expected. But the other part surprised them. Because together with the pain and the sadness, there was something else. A feeling stronger than the pain and heartbreak. A feeling that bubbled up in his chest and made him feel taller. _Determination_. It sat in his chest, melting the ice and burning like a thousand suns.

Steve and the others were probably expecting _something_ when Tony finally made his way out of his workshop (not that Tony wanted to know what they had been expecting, as it probably was not much good), but the look on their faces told Tony they hadn’t been expecting him to organize a new mission and give his absolute support behind finding the Winter Soldier and bringing him home.

Steve’s face was something Tony would never forget. It was shocked with a dash or worry, a pinch of suspicion and about two hundred shots of gratefulness, baked together with a layer of relief on top. He looked like he was going to cry any moment.

With Tony actively helping, scanning the area, asking people if they had seen something and using the newest tech, that mission didn’t take long. They had found the Winter Soldier/still confused Bucky Barnes in a short time’s notice. He was still hard to find though; the guy was like a ghost.

The hardest part had been left to Steve; trying to convince Bucky they weren’t a threat, that they weren’t going to kidnap him and that they most certainly were NOT going to hurt him. Tony felt a sting in his heart when hearing all that over the earpieces. This dude was _terrified_ it was Hydra who had found him, and they would reclaim him, like he was some sort of tagged, runaway fight dog.

Bucky hadn’t been talking much, it had mostly been Steve trying to soothe him, but when Barnes had talked it was uncertain and quietly, looking like he was about to bolt any second. When Steve came into Bucky’s apartment Bucky naturally tried to flee. But he couldn’t so he resulted into staring at Steve with wide, scared eyes. For every step Steve came closer, Bucky took one back. And because Steve didn’t want Bucky feeling cornered he stayed where he was.

Eventually Steve succeeded, and Tony had almost dozed off on his place on the roof. Not because he was bored, but because if Steve wanted he could have this soft voice that was just so comforting and soothing, telling time and time again that everything was alright, the evil had been defeated, everyone was safe and that if anyone out there dared to hurt him he’d make sure they would pay (directly after that Steve said that he would never let anyone hurt Bucky in the first place).

So the reassuring together with Tony’s lack of sleeping over the past week or so Tony felt like taking a nap. He was almost jealous at Barnes, since he wished Steve would talk to him sometimes like that too. But that wasn’t important now.

And just as Tony predicted, it wasn’t hard to forgive a man whose first words to him were an honest _I’m so sorry_.

That was when a dirty and disheveled Winter Soldier, less killing machine and more a sad, traumatized super soldier in need of a shower and a home, ended up in their Head Quarters. It had to be one of the happiest moments of Steve’s life. But… bringing Bucky Barnes into the team also meant disaster for Steve’s righteous, straight-laced, goody-goody reputation.

Because with him, Bucky also brought stories, slowly put together from a patchwork of broken memories, stories that exposed Steve for the troublemaker that he truly was. Something Tony could _not_ get enough of! Story time by Bucky Barnes was something special that needed to be respected and savored. It happened only once in a few weeks, but it was worth it.

Tony smiled a little when he thought back of it. This team was all kinds of messed up but at least they were together. He didn’t want to think about what could have happened if Bucky was still out there, all on his own, Hydra still after him, no place to go and no memories to hold on to. The poor guy didn’t deserve that.

In the living room, he saw Loki sitting on the couch, staring off in the distance. If there was one thing he’d learned from his adopted, traumatized puppies, it was that staring off in the distance with a thousand-yard stare was never a good thing. Tony rolled his shoulders and engaged. He hoped Loki had just some stiff muscles after sleeping on the couch for the night. Tony didn’t, he had slept in a bed. Come to think about it, he had to talk to Steve about that.

He greatly appreciated Steve took the effort to pluck him off the ground and take him to bed, where it was more comfortable. Really, he appreciated it, it made him feel happy to know his team would do that for him. It was this feeling of trust and validation that even in the middle of the night Steve would still make sure everyone else was alright.

But he had to tell Steve that he’d rather stay close by Loki’s side, in case he was getting a nightmare or a panic attack, mostly the first. They were doing great on reducing the amount of panic attacks Loki had. He still cried out sometimes or wouldn’t recognize Tony in the first few minutes after Tony had tried to snap him out of it, but they were doing a great job already! It just hurt to hear the god plead Tony not to hurt him.

The thing was, if Tony was far away, it would take him longer to get to Loki and he just didn’t like the thought of being not able to get there fast while Loki was suffering. Loki would trash and kick and scream, and Tony was afraid he’d accidentally hurt himself.

He sat down on the couch next to the Trickster.

“And why are you sitting on the couch like a kicked puppy on such a fine day? You weren’t wounded right? On the last mission?”

Small Hydra cell. They were in and out in a couple of minutes. Hydra soldiers were captured, information was obtained. A successful job. Loki had distracted the guards with some illusions. They didn’t last long and were a little vague and pale, but it worked nonetheless. Loki had been drained after that.

Loki shook his head.

“Then why are you looking so sad? Chin up, lil’ pup.”

“I don’t know. Maybe we should not have done this.”

The god in green raised his head to look into Tony’s eyes. They were so deeply green, and so sad. It was a horrible combination. Those thousand hues green mixed with so much pain and sadness.

“What are you talking about? Of course we should have done this, you’re one of us now!”

There was a small shrug. “Not all think alike. And I understand. But perhaps… I- I uh, I am not helping things by being here.”

“What do you mean?”

“I just… I- I,” the god sighed, having trouble speaking what was on his mind. “I’m just- the others– They are nice, and it is not their fault, but I have the feeling…” he trailed off again. He didn’t need to continue, Tony already knew what he meant.

“I know, but that’s okay. I mean, you don’t get used to being around each other in just a few days, right?”

“It has been weeks, Anthony. And I- I don’t want to be a burden. I know I cannot force them to like me, but I also do not want to force them to have me around.”

Tony’s face froze, and he almost went rigid. _Burden. I don’t want to be a burden._ His jaw set, and he had to keep himself from grabbing Loki’s shoulders and shaking him until he got it through his skull that never in the fucking hell he was a _burden_. How dared he even think that?! Tony hated it when people saw themselves as burdens, while they clearly weren’t. He looked Loki right into the eyes.

“I’m only gonna say this once, and you better listen carefully. Never ever call yourself that again. Don’t you dare do that. Being traumatized, having PTSD and being tortured for months doesn’t make you burden, _ever_. Being through shit doesn’t make your life less valuable than others, it doesn’t mean people should just start blocking you out.”

Tony took a deep breath, “If anything, it means you need all the support you can get. And if you dare even saying such thing about yourself again I’m sending you to a self-validation course, alright?”

Loki bit his bottom lip and slowly nodded.

“These things…” Tony shrugged a bit, “They take time. We can’t expect people to just magically get along. The ride is long, it’s bumpy, there are dark side roads that are very tempting to take. But we’ll have to sit it out till the end. When you light a candle, you also cast a shadow. We saved you and took you here. But not everyone will be okay with it, or happy. It’s nobody’s fault, it’s just the way it is.”

The two shared a silent moment. Loki began plucking at his sleeves, pulling them up to hide his hands. They were still scarred, but less red and they didn’t hurt that much anymore, or so Loki said. He still got that nervous habit of sleeve-pulling and he hated taking off his clothes. He knew he had to take showers but he’d only take one when Friday had assured him that by _any_ sign of possible danger she’d immediately warn him.

Tony suspected it was about the scars; it would be best if Loki let himself be examined by Cho, just to be sure he was alright. But Loki kept avoiding giving an answer. He didn’t want to say no to Tony, but he also didn’t want to go, so he actively avoided the subject. 

“I just… I-” Loki was looking away to the other side of the room, trying to find the right words, “I want it to work, I really do. But I can’t- it’s like-” he exhaled in frustration, “I want, but I can’t- and I try, but my mind won’t-”

It almost physically hurt Tony to see Loki struggle with his words like this. Talking about things like this was hard enough, as it never seemed the right time to bring it up, and when Loki did he couldn’t bring his feelings into words.

“There are certain things you can control, and certain things you can’t. This is one of those things you can’t. You must endure the presence of a few caterpillars if you wish to become acquainted with the butterflies.”

They locked eyes, and Loki said, “I will never fully understand why you chose to put such faith in me. But I will be forever glad you made that choice.”

“You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.”

Loki’s expression became amused and he turned more toward Tony on the couch, giving him his full attention, “Is that what I am now, tamed?”

“At first, to me, you were nothing more than an alien who was just like a hundred thousand other aliens. I had no need of you. And you, on your part, had no need of me. To you I was nothing more than a human like a hundred thousand other humans. But now, now I’ve tamed you, you are special to me in all the Universe.”

“Hm… not quite the word I would use.”

“What word would you use, then?”

“Befriended.”

He couldn’t help it, Tony had to snicker at that. He pursed his lips thoughtfully and tapped with his finger against his cheek, “I disagree. I sat by your side, each day I came a little closer. And as days passed you began to look forward to my visits, didn’t you?”

Loki didn’t even need to answer, the look in his eyes gave it all away. “See? You did. So I think it’s safe to say I tamed you.”

“I remember it to be you who said I was still a ‘wildcard’, am I wrong?”

Those bright green eyes glistering mischievously, that little smirk at the corner of his mouth… Yeah, Loki was regaining his attitude. Nothing wrong with that, as long as he didn’t get that annoying superior-complex back.

“Maybe. But taming doesn’t necessarily mean that you lose your attitude. It just means that I mean something to you. That, to you, I am different from the seven billion other people on this planet.”

The moment was, once again, ruined by Tony’s phone going off. A certain tune started playing and Tony groaned. He dug in his pocket and took out the phone, putting it to his ear.

“Yeah? – Oh hey, Rhodey, how are you- – hold up what’s – what? – wait, _now_?”

Tony glanced at Loki shortly, who had cocked his head to the side slightly in a curious way. Tony said a few times ‘Yeah’ and then hung up.

“I’m sorry, Snowflake, but the moment of departure draws near…” Tony stood up from the couch and went to grab his coat. Loki sat on one knee and looked over the backrest of the couch, watching Tony as the man put on his coat.

“Ah,” Loki said, "I shall cry."

“It is your own fault," Tony said back. "I never wished you any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you..."

“Yes, that is so.”

“But now you are going to cry."

“Yes, that is so.”

“Then it has done you no good at all."

“It has done me good,” Loki grinned, “Because of the colors of the trees and branches. Because of the color of dirt and the color of coffee. All things that remember me of your hair.”

Tony chuckled and shook his head, grabbing his sunglasses. “Have fun weeping for me, fox, I’m gonna see what Rhodey’s bugging me about. Some fast flying, unknown projectile or something. I’ll be back in a few hours.”

“Until we meet again, Little Prince,” Loki answered, grinning as wide as Tony was.

“Yeah yeah, don’t miss me too much!”

  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last part was a quotation from The Little Prince for anyone who became confused. Rhodey called Tony because of a 'fast flying, unknown projectile'. HMMMM I wonder what that could be????? HMMMMMMMMMMM.
> 
> I'm so hyped for my own writing it's not normal. I actually don't have time to write because I need to lean for all these tests at school, but I can't concentrate and I only want to write because I love this part in my story so much. I have so much fun writing this. 
> 
> I'm almost done with the next chapter so you can expect it in like a week or something.


	12. The Fast and The Furies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Sir, I have seen many things in my life; all types of technology even alien, but I –” Tony stopped for a moment, trying to find the right words to speak, “I have never seen this before. But whatever it is I want it."

There was a boundless sky. Vast. Clear. Crisp. And from it, a black speck rocketed across the horizon. The image of unbridled freedom. Tucked into her riding position, Hiccup appeared to be part of Toothless. They dipped, rolled and dived, over a sea teeming with dolphins, pulling off daring maneuvers with honed refinement, making them seem effortless.

They jackknifed, heading skyward, rolling and tumbling through the ethereal cloud-scapes and joining high-flying birds as they soared in formation. Hiccup was bound head-to-toe in a snug, aerodynamic flight suit -- an asymmetrical, functional design of leather and articulated plates. It had an air of Viking bike leather.

With a loud, high-pitched whistle the black speck dove down at the sea. The dragon made an aileron roll and at the last moment he pulled up to shoot back into the air. His wings pounded hard as his determination grew. They cut through the clouds, banking to fly around them or when they felt like it just straight through.

The dragon threw his head and chest up, making a looping before pitching back up. When they were high enough, floating in the blue sky above the clouds, the dragon stalled and tumbled backward over itself, his tongue lolling from his mouth. He let out a happy purr before he rolled back onto his belly and pulled up once more.

He started from level flight, then going up into a straight vertical climb at full power. Toothless locked his jaw and scooped his wings through the air, faster, faster, faster. Then he stopped, continuing to move up a few more feet before he floated still in the air. Then he started to fall to the ground backward, his tail first. His rider laughed let out an excited yell as they fell. Toothless’ nose dropped through the horizon to a vertical down position and he entered a dive. The rider on his back tucked herself closer to his neck. The dragon flared his wings out and they went up. He was pumping his wings down at a fast speed.

He rolled onto his back, and made a descending loop, only to throw his wings out and sweep straight up into the air. His wings beat down fast, scooping through the air as his neck stretched out along with the movements of his wings.

This, this was what she lived for. It always cheered her up and made her feel better. Flying like this, without limits, it was her favorite thing in the world. There was no one to tell them no, or tell them where to go, or say that she was only dreaming.

It was real, everything about it was real. Maybe she was stranded on an unknown world, in a place she had never been before and didn’t know. But at least she wasn’t alone, at least she still had Toothless. Together they could do anything. They could even take on those flying monster things, whatever they were. Hiccup hadn’t seen them since they came to America.

They flew until they had reached the surface of the clouds, breaking through them and coming out above. They slowed down, Toothless giving a few lazy flaps to stay up in the air.

"What do you think bud? Wanna give this another shot?" Hiccup said to Toothless, her voice muffled through her mask. She pulled the saddle handles back. Toothless just grunted in wariness back. "Toothless," Hiccup said as she petted the dragon on his head. “It will be fine!”

They were hundreds and hundreds of feet in the air, just above the cloud bank. It had been a long time since they could just fly together, and Hiccup wasn't wasting the chance to test out her newest invention. A flight suit. No strange world was going to stop her.

It was for emergencies, in case she was ever knocked from Toothless mid-flight and they couldn't get back to each other. Toothless would be fine, being able to control the tail fin enough to glide to safety, but Hiccup wouldn't, she had nothing to help slow down a fall. Until now.

"Okay, you ready Bud?" Hiccup asked. "Let’s take a free fall first, to see what today’s made of!"

With a click of a lever, she locked the pedals in the flared tail position and removed her metal leg from the pedal. Toothless warbled in excitement, they both loved free falls. Free falling was a whole different thing from the flight suit. In a free-fall they stayed close, with that flight thing she glided away from him.

Hiccup unlatched the safety device attached to her belt and Toothless’ saddle, then she slid off him, peeling away from him like a skydiver from a plane, yelling as she plummeted. Toothless dived after her. They spiraled through the air, face-to-face. Toothless was having fun, despite his worries.

"Whoooooa Yeah!" Hiccup yelled in exhilaration, this was what she lived for.

Hiccup fell a good hundred feet through the clouds, breaking through the bottom. She continued to fall another two hundred feet, Toothless not far behind her. The water below was fast approaching, and Hiccup signaled for Toothless to come closer, so they could fly back up. Hiccup grabbed the saddle knob and attached herself back to Toothless only 50 feet from the water.

"Oh wow! That was, amazing!" Hiccup cheered, lifting her mask to wipe some sweat off her face. Though it was cold up there, the snug, leather suit and the adrenaline warmed her up. "It's the perfect weather for the test. The wind has a strong updraft and it's calm below, the sea is calm, the clouds are white, the air is salty but not thick, I think we’re good."

Toothless flew them back up through the clouds. While he wasn't sure about the suit his friend had made, it was a good idea, he didn't want anything happening to her if they got separated. He could take a fall from a few hundred feet, his wings would slow him down, his human rider? Not so much.

Once they broke through the top of the cloud bank Hiccup readied herself for another fall. She redid the lock on the tail fin and pulled her mask back on. Unhooking herself from the saddle yet again, Hiccup was giddy with adrenaline coursing through her veins.

She looked around. “Okay, bud. As soon as we’re above the clouds we can go test this baby out, yes?” Toothless rumbled. “Toothless! As I said, it’ll be fine! Hiccup’s Flight Suit Number Eleven: Test One,” Hiccup said. She shook her shoulders a bit to loosen them before she slid off the saddle again, straight down.

The wind blew along her body and into her eyes, luckily, she was wearing a mask, or she was afraid her face would have been blown off by the wind. She thought about closing her eyes for a second, letting the feeling of free-falling take her over for a moment. But Toothless appeared next to her, spiraling a bit, and she laughed as he gave her a gummy smile with his tongue lolling from his mouth.

She broke through the soft, fluffy white clouds and the deep blue sea caught her attention as it came near. Toothless flew directly next to her, ready to step in if anything went wrong. They both knew, water from this height became as hard as stone, it could break multiple bones, it could kill a man. Or woman.

“Almost… GO BUD!” She reached down to her legs where she slipped her forearms through a pair of tucked leather flaps, and yanked, unfurling sheets of leather as she extended her arms, straightening her legs in the process. They caught the wind, snapping like wings, and sending him gliding! The leather wings connected to her body from her wrists to her ankles like as those from a flying squirrel. Her entire body jerked as the wings caught the wind and she slowed down significantly, no longer falling straight down but flying parallel with the water.

Toothless unfolded his wings, too, catching up with Hiccup, the upward wind blowing him back into the air into a steady, gliding flight. The freedom was palpable. Hiccup and Toothless were, for the moment, the same. Feeling the same rush of adrenaline. Independently together. They plunged past cloud formations, splitting apart then crossing paths again.

"It's working," Hiccup whispered in surprise. “It’s working!” she called out then hard enough for her friend to hear. She soon noticed her flight wobbled a bit, but she had thought of that too. She slapped a crank on her chest and another pointy fin popped out of her back to help steady her. It took a moment, but her wobbliness stopped as the fin did its job.

Toothless gave another gummy smile and a roar in happiness and excitement. He beat his wings softly to catch ground with his friend again. The wings looked cool, she looked a bit like a small dragon like this to him. His little half-dragon friend.

She had used the wings before, not just to fly alone but to also show other dragons she was like them. His friend looked like a human but had the spirit of a dragon, no doubt. She had wings, could make fire appear in her hand with this little machine and roar like a real dragon.

"Now we have to figure out how to make me land without me breaking bones!" Hiccup yelled as she saw the water approaching, not as fast as before, but still quite quickly. She couldn’t fly up higher by herself, maybe Toothless could somehow cause some wind by beating his wings so she could fly up… or something.

Hiccup looked around for maybe a piece of land for her to land on, a cliff, a rock, anything. There was one, but it was too far away, she would crash into the water before she reached that, or if she was unlucky she would crash against the cliff. “Eh, Toothless, a little help?” she called out to her friend, whose head perked up. 

Toothless roared shortly, then shot a blast a few yards under her. Hiccup's wings caught the blast, it lifted her up in the hot air current a good ten feet in the air. Toothless roared again and purred, it worked! He shot a few more. Hiccup got a good 50 feet lift, it saved her from the water and she was calmly gliding towards a mist bank. Behind it would be a flat piece of land she could land on. Or so she thought.

“This is amazing!” she yelled.

The cloud layer washed past, exposing a towering rock formation, dead ahead.

“No longer amazing,” she said. “Toothless!”

Toothless gave a distressed wail before he tried to gain some speed to catch his friend. She was approaching a large rock rather fast, and if she wouldn’t get on Toothless in time she would crash. Great. Just great. Hiccup tried to steer herself away, to no avail. Toothless poured on the speed, trying to catch Hiccup as she hurtled toward collision. His locked tail made maneuvering difficult. He was unable to pull up at a steep enough angle.

“Oh no no no no no!”

Hiccup braced herself as she came very close to the rock. At the last second, Toothless blasted the jagged rocks just ahead of her, then wrapped her in his wings as they flew through it. The obliterated peak rained down around them. Toothless emerged through the cloud of debris and hurtled into the trees of a neighboring peak. They tumbled down the uneven terrain, coming to rest on a small plateau.

When they had stopped, Toothless uncurled his wings and cooed at his friend, seeing if she was okay. Hiccup carefully crawled out of the cocoon and switched her prosthetic riding foot to her walking foot. Then she came up, groaning at the rough landing. But she still hit her fist in the air from happiness.

"Oh my Thor," Hiccup said a bit shaky. "That… was... AMAZING!"

Hiccup turned around, taking her helmet off, revealing a huge smile on her face. The adrenaline was still floating through her body, making her energetic and happy. She almost wanted to dance around. She stuffed the wings back into their slits. “Wooooh! That literally came out of nowhere!” she said.

Behind them, the high rock Toothless had shot a blast at collapsed. Toothless let out a surprised growl as the rocks crashed down into the water. Oops.

“We gotta work on your solo gliding there, bud,” she said, finishing tucking the yak hides back into the slits. “That locked up tail makes for some pretty sloppy, risky maneuvers, eh?”

Toothless growled a little.

“I mean, the landing needs a little more practice. But the flight was awesome! I can’t believe it actually worked!” Hiccup called out delighted. She threw her hands in the air and jumped up and down. Toothless sighed in relief that his friend was okay, but then grumbled in annoyance. Hiccup turned the crank on her chest, which reeled in the fin on her back. Toothless flicked his tail out and whacked Hiccup against the head.

"Ow! Toothless!" Hiccup whined as she rubbed the back of her head, but Toothless just glared at her. Huffing and turning away, his head up high. "Aww. You want an apology? Is that why you’re pouting, big baby boo?"

Toothless grumbled again and looked away. Hiccup giggled. “Well, try _this_ on!”

She wrapped her arms around his neck like some sort of hug and tried to push him over, as if trying to wrestle him. “Oh, you’re feelin’ it yet? Picking up on all my heartfelt remorse?” She hung from his neck and Toothless raised to his hind legs. He walked forwards.

“C’mon, c’mon, ya - ya – ya wouldn’t hurt a – a one legged – AAH”

She looked down and saw she was dangling above the edge of a cliff. She let out a gasp and held on tighter to Toothless’ neck. Toothless laughed; a growling, yapping sound. Hiccup looked down again and saw a very scary height.

“You're right! You're right! You win! You win!”

Toothless fell backwards, hugging Hiccup on his belly before rolling over and hovering above her. “She's down!” Hiccup called out as she fake-dropped herself to the ground as if wounded. She pushed the paw from her chest. “And it's ugly!”

Toothless started to softly hit her with his paw, like a kitten playing with a toy. She blocked it and stroke her hands out towards him, but he leaned back in time to avoid being hit. “Dragons and Vikings, enemies again, locked in combat to the bitter—” Toothless dropped his head down on Hiccup, pinning her to the ground “—URFFF!”

She gasped for breath as all the air was pushed from her lunges. The black dragon then started to lick her. A big, wet tongue moved from her chest to her face, again and again, leaving a trail of saliva behind. Hiccup groaned and tried to shield herself with her arms, she failed.

“Gaaaaagh!” she complained, then rolled backward to escape her friend and his tongue. She pushed herself up to her feet and flicked her arms, trying to get the sticky Night Fury saliva off her clothes. “You KNOW that doesn't wash out!”

Toothless laughed and Hiccup splashed some spit on Toothless' face. Toothless grumbled, shook his head and tried to get it off with his paw. Hiccup then walked closer at the edge of the plateau, her eyes pointed at the world before her. She ran a hand through her hair and took a deep breath, dramatically gazing into the distance. Toothless grumbled again but sat down to listen to the rant Hiccup was sure to start. She rubbed her hands and turned back to him.

"But back to the Flight Suit. We'll have to find a better way to slow me down or maybe I can learn to tuck and roll," Hiccup said thoughtfully. "But I mean, this is like the coolest thing I’ve ever invented!"

Toothless made a questioning sound and Hiccup gave a sheepish smile.

"Okay, Inferno is still kind of cooler, but this is a close second!" Hiccup argued, "I mean, I can FLY with this thing! Fly! Myself! Like a dragon! If I make a few tweaks here and there I can maybe make turns and fly for longer without losing so much altitude. Maybe eventually I can even find a way to bring myself further up into the air. Obviously, we still need to get up real high for me to –" She stopped dead in her sentence and stared at the horizon with wide eyes.

Toothless lifted his head and cooed worriedly at her. It wasn’t like her to just stop talking like that, out of nowhere. She loved talking about her inventions. Hiccup kept staring at the big grey cloud of smoke that reached up in the sky. She glanced at Toothless shortly before reaching for her saddlebag, taking out her spyglass.

She walked closer at the edge of the plateau, putting the spyglass against her eye. She just saw a part of a house from which smoke was circling up into the air. The rest was shielded by a forest. There was a village out there. Hiccup shared a look with Toothless before jumping onto his back and taking off.

The normally green tops of the forest were burned, fire was still smoldering and grasping at the next trees and bushes. Hiccup’s jaw dropped, and she looked in shock as they flew over the black tree tops. Toothless wailed at the destroyed nature, not liking it a bit.

“What happened here?” Hiccup asked out loud. Toothless made a stressed sound. 

She saw a small village, smoke circled up from the rooftops and people were running around like crazy. She stayed far away enough so she wouldn’t be seen, but what she saw was horrible. She saw people in heavy armor grabbing other people, women, children, by the neck and aggressively shoving them forwards. She watched how the men in armor dragged the men away from the women and children, they were all pushed against a wall, next to each other and Hiccup felt her stomach clench. This was an execution. They were going to kill those men.

The women and children were shoved into some sort of big cart on four wheels, it made a roaring sound, Hiccup recognized it from the town she had been in. Humans drove in those things. Toothless snarled from deep inside his throat, furious by the sight of this inhumanly behavior. “Let’s help them,” was all Hiccup had to say before Toothless already shot up and they started their attack.

*******

Adrien Chase put his hand on his hip, his other hand holding the gun as he looked at his men raiding the village, taking the women and children to shove them inside the truck. They could sell those; the men were useless. Maybe they could do heavy work, but they would only try to escape. So he ordered his men to put them next to each other, facing a wall, and then to shoot them. To put them down as the dogs they were.

Adrien laughed, scratching his beard. The only thing he could have done to make him look like more of a douchebag was for him to eat an apple.

“Hey!” Adrien yelled at a man who was trying to escape. He ran up at him, grabbed him at his collar and pushed him down to the ground. Chase gave him a hard kick in the stomach. The man coughed, still trying to crawl away. Adrien kicked again, this time against his head.

“You tryin’ to escape?!” he yelled. The man tried to shield himself from the kicks, muttering something like ‘please don’t kill me, look after my family’ or something. Like Adrien cared. He looked at one of his men, pointing at the beaten person at his feet, “Get him out of my sight!”

He sighed and shook his head. Why did people always make it so hard for him? He just wanted to make some money, buy some weapons, do what he was told. But noooo, of course they had to put up a fight. It would all go so much easier if they just did what they were told. Big fish ate the smaller fish. The Ten Rings were the big fish, small villages like these were the small fish. Couple of dumbasses, didn’t they understand the Ten Rings were more powerful than they would ever be?!

The Ten Rings was a terrorist organization dedicated to destroying world peace by any means necessary. It was believed to be led by a mysterious man known as the Mandarin, but none could know for sure. The history of the Ten Rings was shrouded in mystery. Several members believed their leader, the Mandarin, had inspired generations of men since the Middle Ages, perhaps even further back in time, implying that the organization was hundreds of years old. Some even described the organization as ‘faith’.

All branches of the Ten Rings operated as individual cells, with every cell operating independently of each other. The leaders of each cell had no idea who anyone was in any other cell save for one contact. Each cell would receive money and weapons and as long as they received them, the leaders did not ask questions.

Being a multinational organization, members of Ten Rings branches spoke multiple languages, including: Arabic, Dari, English, Farsi, Hungarian, Mongolian, Pashto, Russian and Urdu. They were possibly even more dangerous than Hydra! Chase huffed, what was he saying? _Of course_ they were more powerful than Hydra. Hydra was nothing compared to them. Hydra had come up during World War II, while the Ten Rings had been gathering since the Middle Ages! Not to mention a simple man in too tight, red, white and blue spandex was able to take Hydra down, using nothing but a dinner plate to protect himself!

He did look good in that spandex though…

But that was not the point! The Ten Rings would never be taken out so easily. They would fight and stand their ground. They were everywhere, spoke all the languages and had all the kinds of weapons.

Chase yawned behind his hand as his men continued to raid the village. If all things went as they were supposed to they could be away before dawn. If they had finally caught all the men by then… He hoped for the best. Not that anything ever went like one wanted it to go.

With that he meant that stupid New Party that had popped up out of nowhere. They were fast, they were clever, they worked together as the perfect team and somehow they managed to build up an entire organization without anyone even _noticing_. Either that or they did it in a few days’ time but that was just preposterous, their operation was too big. They weren’t the Chinese, not the Russians, not the Japanese, not anything.

They seemed to be their own men, yet they did join multiple giant organizations. He had heard this new party had been messing around with Hydra, and now they had become a branch of the Ten Rings, apparently. Chase despised that idea; they wanted to be a part of Hydra, but then they obviously couldn't so they went to the Ten Rings instead. And the worst part was that the leaders of The Ten Rings _let_ them. They just _let_ them! Why were they allowed to do that? Like the Ten Rings were some weak second choice. The Ten Rings were nothing like Hydra. They were better than those Nazis.

Not that he got anything to say about it. But who knew? Maybe this new party brought opportunities with him. Every downside had its upside.

After all, heroes and their consequences were why organizations like the Ten Rings and the Chinese Triade had their current opportunities. Every time one of those guys punched someone through a building, their margins went up 3%. So yeah, they were stopping the terrorist attacks and they were attacking bases (whether it was Hydra or the Ten Rings), but those so-called ‘Heroes’ didn’t even notice those same people were building a whole empire right under their noses. That new party better not screw it up.

Chase rubbed his nose, he was wondering what that new party called itself. They were a part of the Ten Rings, but at the same time they weren’t. He didn’t know, it wasn’t like he had been told much about them. Every cell operated independently of each other so there wasn’t much communication. He just hoped they would bring fortune and joy. These times were both dark and golden. Golden when you managed to build up your cooperation underneath the nose of those heroes, but dark when they found out.

Every now and then Iron Man would kick in their door and blast up their basis. He was still taking the whole ‘kidnapping’ thing personally. The Ten Rings just did what they were ordered. They made this contract with Obadiah Stane to kidnap Tony Stark. It was this whole act of jealousy. Something about wanting to become CEO, no wait, _deserving_ to become CEO instead of the younger Stark to that led Stane to join forces with The Ten Rings to organize a failed attempt to assassinate him so Stane could become CEO once again. He died.

And now Stark was still mad at them. He really had to get over himself and leave them alone. They were only trying to make a living.

And then there was Captain America, but that dude was more of a Nazi puncher. Like, the Ten Rings and terrorists were bad, but if he had to choose between terrorists and Nazis he probably would go after the Nazis first. Or it depended on the threat level, but you get what he meant.

A high-pitched whistling sound made him look up from his thoughts. The whistle came from the sky, high above them. Adrien’s men panicked a bit, what was that? Was it Iron Man? It wouldn’t be the first time he had taken out followers of the Ten Rings. Stark destroyed their weapons, camps and took out their soldiers. He was a real pain in their –

As Adrien Chase narrowed his eyes and looked at the sky he saw a small, black dot approach. He rolled his eyes and let out an ‘urgh’ noise. So, it was Stark. His suit was getting better every day. Though… Stark’s suit wasn’t black; Stark’s suit was yellow and red… but whatever. Maybe it was a stealth suit, or maybe he was trying out new colors.

“Tank ready!” he yelled.

But before they could even get the tank working, from out of nowhere an explosion tore the machine apart. The metal thing was engulfed in flames and smoke. His men were blasted backwards. The sound receded, leaving the ground scorched in its wake.

Chase snapped his head up at the sky again, his eyes searching for the black dot that was Iron Man. Why didn’t the coward show himself? He usually was such a fan of people cheering and worshipping him. He never shied away from having a little talk at first, telling them that they couldn’t win from the great Iron Man.

“Stark!” He yelled up at the sky. The high-pitched whistle came back around, shooting through the air at an insane speed and slowly Chase realized – that this was not Stark. His eyes widened, and he screamed at his men one word;

_Run_

As the high-pitched whistle had come down closer to the village it shot again. As if it emerged from thin air the empty transport trucks exploded, the trucks filled with the taken women and children were left unharmed. Next were the soldiers of the Ten Rings who had been aiming their guns on the men against the wall. This explosion seemed less powerful, just enough to blow them away. Even this went without hurting the people of the village. Whatever this thing was, it was accurate as fuck.

The people from the village understood this was a rescue mission and they took their chances. They sprinted away from the wall, grabbing the guns of the fallen Ten Rings and started helping the others of their village. They hoped that whatever was saving them could see the difference between them and the bad men.

It seemed like it did. As they helped their wives and children from the trucks their savior blew those up too. It kept diving down, shooting and then flying up again. It wasn’t Iron Man, they knew that. Iron Man loved to show himself and this was not his style of fighting. But whatever or whoever it was, the people of the village were grateful it was here. It dove down, shooting and sweeping back up in the air. All went without seeing.

After a few more powerful blasts the Ten Rings were forced to retreat. The people of the village could handle it from there. The whistle left, racing up to the sky and firing one last blast which colored the sky a beautiful purple. The people of the village cheered, and the children applauded.

It seemed like they had yet another hero in their midst.

      

* * *

  

  **Langley Air Force Base, Virginia.**

“What the hell was that?”

Heads whipped up around the control room. Gazes were torn loose from computer screens and confused looks went around. One of the men in the room, however, was still rapidly typing. On multiple computers were radars to be seen, the radars showed satellite recordings and there was a red dot racing across the screen, beeping with each blink. On the bottom of the screens appeared progressing data, scans were performed to see what it was.

“Were we cleared to go in there?” Major Allen asked. He looked around the control room, there were about eight clocks hanging on the wall, all showed different times, there was a flag with the stripes of America against the wall, together with a flashing red light next to it. The walls were grey and the ceiling a dirty white, there was not a single window in the room.

The wall furthest away from Major Allen was wide, at either side close to the corners hung four little screens, huddled together in a square. Closer to the middle of the wall were two screens the size of the four smaller screens combined. And then in the middle was the largest screen, showing satellite radar and the red dot moving.

Before Major Allen stood behind a very large desk at the opposite side of the room, with multiple big computers standing on it. There were two men sitting at the desk, about nine feet away from each other. Major Allen was standing between them, looking right at the big screen on the wall in front of him.

“No, they were using human shields. We never got the green light,” Collins said.

“Put me through to State. They're going to be all over this,” Allen answered, “Get those monitors up!”

Information about the thing’s whereabouts turned up on the screen, coordinates and information. Only there was no information. Nothing. It was something going fast, but it had no identification they could pull up.

“We got a bogey!” Jones searched the database for any possible source of the bogey. “Wasn't Air Force!” he called out.

“We got the CIA on the line?” Major Allen asked, looking around the room.

“I've got Langley- Eustis on the line,” Collins said, “They want to know if it's us.”

“No, it definitely is not us, sir!” Jones called back. His eyes stayed glued to the screen. “It wasn't Navy.”

“I’ve got Wright-Patterson Air Force Base on the line, they also want to know if it was us!” Collins spoke up.

“It wasn’t us!”

The Wright-Patterson base was one of the largest and most important bases in the U.S. Air Force. If even _they_ didn’t know who or what it was…

“Wasn't Marines,” another man called.

“I need answers!” Major Allen said, “Can I please get eyes on target?”

Jones stared at the contrasting white pixels against black as if all the URLs and fragments of code clogged the gears of his mind. Although the jungle of algorithms played a laser show on his glasses, he held his breath to concentrate as if his life depended on it. Jones’ eyes combed the monitor in search of a footage of the bogey, moving from side to side rapidly. The loudest sound in the room wasn’t the men’s voices, but the sound of fingers hitting keyboards.

The codes blocked and turned into nothingness. There was no footage.

“Negative, negative. Cannot identify,” Jones said.

Major Allen ran a hand through his hair. “Get me Colonel Rhodes from Weapons Development down here now!”

Colonel Rhodes entered the room, pulling off his jacket. He paced past screens taking in the SAT-IMAGES of the bogey’s assault on somewhere south of Norfolk. That part of Virginia had been evacuated because of the terrorists. After Colonel Rhodes came a man with brown hair and brown eyes. Dark sunglasses were obscuring those brown eyes, and he was dressed in a neat suit.

Major Allen pursed his lips when he saw the second coming in. It was Tony Stark. Billionaire, genius, philanthropist, playboy and the Iron Man. Major Allen wasn’t exactly friends with Stark, they had a little bit of a history. But well, if there was anyone who had knowledge of this kind of thing it was Stark. After all, they’ve dealt with a situation like this before, in that case the bogey had been Stark.

“We ran an ID check and cross-referenced with all known databases. We have nothing,” Major Allen explained to Rhodes as the man stood next to him.

“Any high-altitude surveillance in the region?” Rhodes asked.

Jones piped up from behind his computer, “We got an AWAC and a Global Hawk in the area.”

Stark walked around in the control room, looking at some screens and tapping some keys. There was nothing to see on the radar. Whatever it was it had only appeared for a moment on the radar and had then disappeared again.

“So, this thing just appeared out of nowhere?” Stark asked, “How come it didn't show up on the radar?”

“Got a minimal radar cross-section, sir,” Collins answered.

“Is it stealth?” Rhodes asked.

“No, sir,” Jones answered as he rapidly typed away on his computer, “it's tiny. We think it's an unmanned aerial vehicle.”

Major Allen turned to Rhodes, “Colonel, what are we dealing with here?”

Stark tapped another key and on another big screen appeared pixelated images of destruction. It was a little town not all too far from here. It was the temporary home of terrorists and the military had been meaning to take it out for a long time, without success. Now something had taken it out before they could. Since it wasn’t one of them and they had no idea what else it could be, it was a threat.

As Star made his way back to his friend he saw Rhodes had raised an eyebrow and glanced at him. The colonel took a step or two closer to the other, leaning towards him a bit to speak somewhat more quietly. “You sure you don't have any tech in that area I should know about?”

Stark shook his head and leaned onto the table with his hands. “No, I don’t.”

Rhodes leaned a little closer again and lowered his voice, so only the two of them could hear what was said. With all the commotion going on in the room, there weren’t many people paying attention to them anyway. “Are you positive? If this is one of yours, I promise I won’t be mad.”

“I’m positive, Rhodey, that’s not one of my suits or my tech. I would know. Friday would have warned me!”

“Bogey spotted!”

CAOC, a topo map, showed a little dot about to cross a line. Alarms added to the frenzy of the control room. Two USAF F-22 Raptors flashed out of the clouds like sharks. On the big screen they had a sort of visual on what was happening. Stark Industries had upgraded the planes a bit, gave them cameras on their belly so they had a better visual in the control room on what was happening.

“Viper 1 and 2, coming in hot,” Viper 1 said.

“Okay, good, 'cause it's about to be blown to kingdom come,” Rhodes said, glancing over at Stark once more.

Stark looked up surprised at those words. Then he looked at the screen where they saw a beautiful blue sky with some clouds sailing by. The bogey was not in sight… yet. Stark opened his mouth, thought it would be wiser not to say anything and closed it again. From the corner of his eyes he glanced at Rhodes. Blow it up? But they didn’t even know what it was! What if it _was_ something of them?

Stark opened his mouth to say something again, but Viper 1 interrupted him before he could.

“Ballroom, this is Viper 1. I've got the bogey in my sights.”

Through the camera on the belly of the F-22 Raptor they saw a very little black dot flying at high speed before them. It was long, longer than a normal Iron Man suit, and this thing had something moving at either side of it, almost like arms, but at the same time not like arms. At least, nothing that looked like the arms of the Iron Man suit. They were bigger, longer. If they didn’t know better they would have said it was a bird and those ‘arms’ wings, but they did know better as birds weren’t over 20 feet tall.

“Viper 1, what is it?” Major Allen asked.

“I've got no idea.”

A silence fell between Stark, colonel Rhodes and Major Allen. They shared looks, but Stark was the first to break eye contact, pressing his palm against his head, trying to remember if it could be something of him. A rogue suit maybe? No, Friday would know, Friday would have warned him. He would have known. Some sort of same tech? Same tech but made by someone else? But nobody had even come close to his level of technology. Except for Whiplash, maybe. But that was nothing like _this_.

“You have radio contact?” Rhodes asked.

“Non-responsive, sir. I got nothing.”

Rhodes took a deep breath, then side glanced at his friend who was frowning deeply and squeezing his eyes closed, tapping with his knuckles against his forehead. “Then you are clear to engage.”

The two planes hit the gas and they flew at the black dot. They accelerated, shooting through the air like bullets, eyes trained on their mission. For a moment the black dot came closer, but before they had a clear visual the thing accelerated too and raced away from them. Straight back at the sea. A surprised gasp came from both the planes.

“That bogey just went supersonic!” Viper 1 called out in surprise. “But I got a lock!”

Viper 1 squinted his eyes as he locked the target in his radar. He pressed a button and a side shaft of the plane opened, a missile came out and was fired at the target.

“Missile fired.”

They waited until the missile would hit goal, so they could turn around; it was protocol. The missile slowly began catching up, moving through the air smoothly and steady, as it was supposed to. It was fast, even faster than Stark’s Iron Man suits.

In the control room, Stark held in his breath. This ultimate destruction, supersonic-flying piece of technology was something he would have _loved_ to get his hands on. It was a shame Rhodes just wanted to blow it up. Of course, it was dangerous, but he was Tony Fucking Stark, when did he do something that wasn’t dangerous?

It was almost painful to watch this piece of tech getting blown up, but okay, it wasn’t like he would never get over it. He just thought it would have been better to sort of ‘catch’ it, to force it to the ground and then examine it.

Then something happened. The missile was _supposed_ to blow up; to create a big cloud of orange and red fire, smoke clouding around it and a loud KABOOM was supposed to be heard. But before the bomb blew up _the_ _bogey,_ everyone, including the Vipers, saw a big, purple blast shooting back at the missile. The two made contact and it blew up in one huge cloud of orange, red and streaks of _purple_. The two Raptors banked and twirled down to the crashing waves beneath to avoid the massive fire grasping up into the sky. 

“What the hell was that?!” Major Allen called out.

Stark straightened his back, his eyes glued to the big screen in amazement. The bogey was not firing some other missile, flares or bullets. This was some big blast of a maybe even unknown substance! Great, now he was even more eager to get the remaining pieces of the unknown aircraft in his hands. And if it were possible, the whole thing.

But that dream was thorn to bits when Viper 2 started firing at it with bullets. The slender, black aircraft thing spun in the air, to the left, to the right, up and down. Moving so fast it turned into a blur, or a streak of black. It made sharp turns and banked in a half circle, possibly to try shaking the Raptors off, but they stayed on its tail. Then it wheeled up into the air and turned, flying right up to the sun, disappearing in a cloak of bright light as neither of the pilots could look directly into the sun.

“I’m blinded! I lost visual!” Viper 1 said.

Stark’s fingers curled around the edge of the table as he stared at the screen with wide eyes. This thing was unbelievable. It was supersonic fast, could shoot use blasts of purple ‘unknown material’, could made crazy evasive maneuvers and still managed not to be recognized. There was a lot of bright light on the screens, but no black dot or anything. This thing was also smart.

“There it is!” Viper 1 called out.

On the screen that showed the footage of Viper 1 they saw the black dot appearing again, flying through the air a few hundred feet above the two Raptors, away from the bright sunlight. It was heading East, where the sea was.

“Take it down!” Major Allen ordered. Stark wanted to say something about not destroying this amazing piece of tech, but didn’t. He knew he would regret saying nothing later.

The two Raptors set the chase again and flew up, cutting through clouds and going after the black thing. The thing banked, arching towards the ground, evading the Raptors again, then it wheeled back up into the sky. Viper 1 and 2 could try to shoot, but they were sure they wouldn’t hit anything. It would be a waste of bullets.

The bogey made a jerk with his body, then dropped a few meters before catching himself again. It was difficult for the Raptors to get a clear shot or to lock onto it with their guns. Just as Viper 1 thought he finally had it, the plunged towards the earth without warning, pitching into dive-bombing. The Raptors pushed the steering stick away from them, the planes pitched into a dive too. Soon the thing and the Raptors were flying straight at the ground in great speed.

They accelerated faster and faster, going almost entirely vertical. As gravity pulled them fiercely toward the earth below, Stark kept his eyes glued onto the screens. This thing had to pull up some time. The blades of the planes sliced through the clouds, following that little dot. Stark felt his hand reach out for the radio, he picked it up and brought it to his mouth.

“Viper 1 and 2, pull up in time or you’ll crash. This thing is more maneuverable than your planes are and can probably pull up later than you,” Stark said into the radio.

“Copy that,” Viper 1 and 2 said.

They kept falling, pressing the gas pedal for some extra speed, the engines roaring. The two pilots narrowed their eyes as they took in visual. The black dot was racing at the ground too, not showing any signs of slowing down. It kept going and going, faster and faster, almost blending in with the deep blue hues of sea water below.

They fell and fell, the two pilots getting a little dizzy, they felt pressed back in their chairs and their hands clenched around the steering stick. It was more than free-falling, they added speed and they went so fast they almost forgot everything around them. There was only the feeling of endlessly falling.

They kept falling and falling and falling. Wind blowing along their windows, draft trying to push them back as gravity pulled them down at the same time. The blue water was closing in fast… too fast.

“Pull up!” Viper 2 said, both Raptors jerked the steering stick back towards themselves and the planes pulled up. The camera on the belly moved down at the same time so it was still recording the black thing below them. The bogey rolled on its side, curving further towards the earth. All the people in the control room looked up from their own computers at the big screen and watched the thing sweep back into the air in a tilted circle. Spinning back into the air towards the clouds in a streak of black. Without any effort.

“No way that's a UAV, what the hell is that thing?!” Major Allen called out irritated.

The two Raptors rolled and sped after it again, for them it didn’t even matter what it was. They just had a mission they wanted to complete.

“How is it possible that it is so much faster and better than we are?!” Allen asked, looking mostly at Stark, who was as dumbfounded as he was.

“Sir, I have seen many things in my life; all types of technology even alien, but I –” He stopped for a moment, trying to find the right words to speak, “I have never seen this before. But whatever it is I want it. Friday.” The last thing was meant for the earpiece in his ear.

“Yes boss?” Friday answered.

“Whoever made this piece of tech, whoever is flying or controlling it, we’re hiring them.”

“You got it, boss.”

He ignored Rhodes’ glare.

The Raptors got visual again. Viper 1 opened fire as the thing was zigzagging in the air, then it started spinning downwards. It spiraled in the air with so much speed Stark almost felt dizzy looking at it. The Raptors pushed the steering stick away from them, to go down after it. But just as they were going down the bogey pulled back up, speeding towards the clouds.

Viper 1 and 2 pulled back up too, they flew through the thick cloud cover, blinded by the vapor bursting across their windows, before they breeched back above the clouds with only the sky and each other as company. A flicker of black to the left and the two sped towards it, bursting through thick clouds to nothing but sunlight.

“We lost visual again! It’s like it disappeared in the clouds!” Viper 1 said.

“FIND IT!” Major Allen yelled. He ran his hand through his hair again.

Stark glanced at Rhodes and at Major Allen. He wondered how high the chances were that he could sneak out of here unnoticed, get to his suit and take to the air himself. Rhodes would probably not let him. And he didn’t want to anger Rhodes. Ugh, sometimes it was so hard to think about others first. But this thing could also disappear in the clouds with such ease it could form a real threat if in the wrong hands. Stark assumed the thing could also hover in the air without making any noise, its engine was probably entirely silent.

“The SAT visual has been lost,” Jones piped up.

Major Allen frowned and looked at him. “Where is it?”

“I can't see anything,” Viper 2 answered for him, “Whatever it was, it just bought the farm.”

Stark couldn’t help but look a bit disappointed. He had hoped on a little more action, and of course knowing what this thing was. Where did it came from? Who made it? Was it Russian? He would have to ask Nat about that, or Bucky, maybe one of them had ever seen something like this before. Rhodes let out a relieved breath and leaned with his hands on the table, one foot behind the other.

“I think bogey's been handled, sir,” Viper 1 said.

Stark turned away nonchalantly, tapped on his watch and a virtual keyboard appeared. He typed something, and some virtual files opened, little symbols flashing before his eyes. Stark tapped some more things and typed again. He flicked his fingers and a blue hologram appeared, he scooped it up in the palm of his hand and scrolled through it with his thumb. _‘Downloading data’_ appeared on the screen. He needed those files, he wanted to know what the hell this thing was.

He glanced over at Rhodey, worried the man might see him ‘borrowing’ data from the US air force, but saw he was busy talking with Major Allen, so he had some time. Airforce. _Pssh_. They should really work on better firewalls and security instead of following and shooting at awesome bogeys.

Who knew what they could learn from this thing. Besides, if there was one, what if there were more? If they randomly destroyed this one, they could call upon them the wrath of these geniuses. And judging from the skillset this little thing _alone_ had, they would _not_ want that.

While Friday was sorting out the files and downloading the recordings of a few seconds ago, Stark lowered his hand with the watch, making the hologram disappear, and looked back at Rhodey and Allen. They were talking about the bogey thing, because no one _really_ believed it was gone. It was probably hiding somewhere, or it had flown away at supersonic speed. Viper 1 and 2 banked and made their way back to base, happy the mission had been (somewhat) successful.

_‘Download completed.’_

Stark grinned widely but masked it fast. When he was back at home, he was going to make this his new personal project. Now that he had almost completed project Help Loki And Give Him A Home, it was time for project UAB, Unknown Awesome Bogey.

“So,” he said, approaching the two, Allen looked up at him with little annoyance, Rhodes was just looking plain, “now we’ve handled that, how about a drink and a discussion about what it could have be–”

“THE BOGEY’S BACK!” it sounded through the radio. It turned deadly silent in the control room but for the increasingly unbearable spins of the CPU cooler fans of the computers. Stark fell into silence, his expression curious with a dash of shock, Major Allen looked furious and Rhodes just had no idea what to think or how to look.

“I REPEAT, THE BOGEY IS BACK!”

The three stared at the camera from the belly of the F-22 Raptor aircrafts and yes, they saw a black streak skimming over the clouds, like a flat stone across a lake. It was almost like watching a dolphin jumping in and out the water with elegant arcs and Stark thought it was a bless to see.

“Viper 1 and 2 engaging again!”

The two Raptors jerked around hard and pelted after it. Viper 1 took the lead and opened fire. The thing rolled onto its side and dropped down to the sea, then catching itself again and flying in a straight line towards the horizon. Viper 1 had a better shot at the thing and he took it. The thing tried evasive maneuvers, but they saw it had trouble doing so. It lost some of its speed and seemed desperate to stay ahead.

“I think I got it!” Viper 1 said.

Suddenly two huge black things spread out at either side of the bogey and it was thrown back, speeding back past in between the two planes in a black blur. Ending up somewhere directly behind them, right in their blind spot.

_“Holy!”_

The control room let out gasps too and the Big Three’s eyes widened. Stark made mental notes. It was like something he had with his suit. The side flaps. He had used things like that before and they worked exactly like this thing was using them. Though this Bogey’s flaps were way bigger.

The genius who had designed this thing had made it look somewhat like a bird, which was logical since birds were literally _made_ to fly, everyone knew that. So, it did have some sort of wings, but with wings alone it could never go this fast, so it had to have an amazing engine. He wanted this whole thing so badly.

“That thing just jumped off the radar, sir,” Viper 2 said. But there was no doubt it was still there.

The CAOC screens in the control rooms now filled up with images from the belly-cams of the Raptors. The pursuit of the bogey. Not even one picture showed a clear image of what they were pursuing, only black blurs that told them nothing. The two Raptors banked in the air and circled around, the black streak was speeding away right in front of them. Viper 1 locked his guns on the streak and started firing again.

The streak made a Split S, the thing half-rolled its aircraft inverted and executed a descending half-loop, resulting in level flight in the exact opposite direction at a lower altitude. The three aircrafts were moving so fast towards each other that when they crossed all they could see was a black blur. The bogey had pulled up a bit and was flying just a few feet above the top of the Raptors, out of sight of the cameras so they didn’t record anything. And now it was behind them _again_.

The two pilots pulled the steering stick to the side to twirl in the air and turn around. Their radars locked back onto the bogey and they continued the chase. They saw it leap up into the air again, it climbed up, not as perpendicular to the earth as before, but still almost straight up. The pilots pulled the steering stick towards them a little and they moved up too, aiming the crosshairs at the target.

Then it dived down, pitching into dive-bombing again, maybe going even faster than before. The two Raptors followed its lead. Something that was worrying Stark.

“Sir, maybe you should call the F-22’s back," he said, carefully.

Major Allen frowned and looked at him as if he had fallen onto his head one too many times. His face was red, and his hands were balled to fists. “Call them back? We almost got it!”

Stark glanced at the screen and sighed, his mind working rapidly to come up with a smart thing to say. He didn’t want to piss off Allen, now was not the right time and it didn’t get them anywhere. If he wanted to prevent this magnificent piece of technology from being blown to bits he had to play it safe.

“With all due respect sir,” Stark started, ugh how he hated to say that. “I think we’re playing into the bogey’s hand. We keep following it and shooting at it, and we know it can shoot back, oh heavens do we know, but it didn’t shoot directly at the F-22’s even once. What it had multiple, perfect opportunities to.”

“Are you saying it _wants_ us to follow it?”

“I’m saying that diving right after the thing and keeping chasing it is clearly not working and it’s suspicious that it didn’t do anything back yet, while it clearly can,” Stark explained.

They looked at the screen with the camera of Viper 2. They saw the ground closing in fast and the Major’s lips became a thin line. It had pulled this trick before and they all knew what was going to happen.

As the pilots did too they made sure the two Raptors weren’t speeding down as fast as they did before, so they could fly down longer and more safely. As the bogey almost hit the ground, the black things spread out and it pulled up. Water splashed up, droplets flying around them and raising into the sky for a moment, before falling again by gravity. The bogey shot into the air like a bullet.

The Raptors hadn’t fallen far yet and pulled the steering stick back, hovering in the air for a dead-second before they flew up too. Major Allen breathed in deeply and held his breath for a few seconds before releasing it slowly. The Raptors flew into the cumulus clouds, trying to pinpoint the bogey’s whereabouts, but were partially blinded by the white clouds reflecting the sunlight. Some of the men in the room looked at Allen expectantly, as were Stark and Rhodes.

Allen bowed towards the radio. “Viper 1 and 2.” He sighed and shook his head in irritation, he hated retreating. “Mark your position and return to base.”

“Roger that, Ballroom,” the pilots said, and they banked, turning back to base. The black streak disappeared out of sight, still speeding towards the horizon. Who knows what that thing was, or where it came from. Everyone wondered if it would ever come back. It probably would, and they had to be ready. Because it scared them how easily this thing could outfly them and dodge all their fire.

Allen turned towards Stark and pointed a finger at him. “If it turns out that thing is going to destroy American property or belongs to terrorists who are going to use it to destroy nations, I’ll come after you, Iron Man or not.”

Stark nodded, already secretly giving Friday the commando to make his suit ready by tapping his watch.

“Sir, I will personally make sure it’ll be handled. I promise.”

That earned him a sharp nod of Allen, and a suspicious look from Rhodes.

  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> APRIL'S FOOLS, they didn't meet yet. But they are introduced to each other, heh heh heh. Next chapter is being made. And the chapter after that one, will be beautiful. It will be one of my best works. They don't know it's a dragon yet, but they will. Oh boy they will.
> 
> This one took longer than I wanted, school was busy busy busy. But I'm done with my tests and I'm so happy. 
> 
> The title was a word play on the title The Fast and The Furious. I thought it was funny :')
> 
> Also, I sort of stole my sister's iPad and Apple Pen and started drawing. I'm not good at it, but boy I do like it. See ya next chapter!


	13. The Shortest Straw

Toothless stretched out his wings to catch draft and with stretched out paws landed on the soft grass, walking a few more steps before coming to a halt, almost collapsing onto the moss. Hiccup immediately jumped off his back, strapping his saddle loose to give him more space. His chest moved up and down frantically and his flanks were covered in sweat. He had his mouth open in an attempted to suck in more oxygen. He lowered himself to the ground and closed his eyes, still breathing heavily with soft moans.

Hiccup took a cloth from her satchel and used it to rub down his back and flanks. "It's okay, bud. It's okay. We got it. We're done. You did good, you were amazing." She grabbed her flask from the satchel too and poured the water into Toothless' mouth. More. She needed more water. But she couldn't leave Toothless out in the open like this.

She placed her hands underneath his chin, lifted his head up and tried pulling the rest of his body with her. "C'mon bud, just a few more steps. I got to get you to safety."

Toothless gurgled but still followed her, without her help he would collapse. She led him to a small cave somewhere in the forest, ignoring the pain in her own muscles. She had no idea where she was but it didn’t matter right now. They had escaped, that was all that mattered. All her muscles hurt, her arms her back, even her metal leg. But she paid no attention to it.

Toothless lay down immediately again and Hiccup looked around. The cave wasn’t big, but it would do. For now. While Toothless lay down more comfortable, she grabbed a fistful of hair and slightly tugged at it in frustration. This was all just such a mess. First the attack on that village that hadn’t been the brightest idea, then those metal birds started following her.

Those iron birds went faster than anything she had ever seen before. They weren’t even that big, and made of metal for Thor’s sake, but somehow they kept catching up with her. They never seemed to get tired. The only advantage they had was that she and Toothless were more maneuverable. So there had been a lot of spinning, dropping, diving and banking.

And what was that fire they shot at her? First it was this sleek object that caught up with her so easily it became terrifying. It moved straight through the air like an arrow but was way bigger. Toothless had fired a plasma blast back at it and when the two things hit the explosion was huge. This enormous cloud of fire and smoke rose up in the air, pushing the two away even from a distance.

Then, as if that hadn’t been scary enough, they fired little things at them that moved too fast to be seen. She only saw streaks and heard whistles (more like a RAT-A-TAT-A-TAT-A-TATAT sound, or whatever it was). It was as if there were shooting arrow heads but smaller, and they moved faster than a bow or a crossbow could ever be able to shoot. And so many at the same time. These iron birds were more dangerous than a Screaming Death.

That dragon was as big as a mountain and could destroy whole islands. Its scales were thick and strong; almost impossible to get through, his head consisted for more than half of a huge mouth with multiple rows of giant, sharp teeth, and it could fire enormous spheres of flames. But at least Toothless could stay ahead of it and she knew what it was going to do. These iron birds fired unknown objects at her that turned out to be more dangerous than giant fire balls.

Toothless moaned and she was snapped back to reality. They needed some warmth, a campfire. So first things first, she needed some fire wood. Hiccup grabbed her bag and turned it upside down, inside were her self-drawn map, spyglass, some piece of cloth, a little package of food, an empty flask of water, a notebook, a charcoal pencil, some ink and a dagger. She swung the now empty bag over her head and shoulder so one strap was across her chest. She grabbed the small package of food and stuffed it in her pocket, you never knew.

As she made her way back out of the cave Toothless lifted his head up in alarm and roared at her, taking two steps but then collapsing again.

Hiccup sped back at him and softly stroked his head. "No no no, it's okay, bud. I'm not leaving. I'm just gonna collect some wood to make a fire. I'll be right back." She scratched him under his chin and stood back up again, leaving the cave. Toothless shrieked once, but then laid his head back down on the ground, waiting for his bonded to come back.

Hiccup jumped over a fallen tree trunk, leaves flying up as she landed. Judging from the dryness and the way they crisped underneath her feet she could tell it hadn't rained in some time. That was good and not good. The branches were dry, which meant they could catch fire easily. So, that was good for her because it made making a fire easier, but if a forest fire was to break out it would spread in a few seconds flat.

She stuffed as much dry branches in her bag as she could find and fit inside. She didn't have an axe or something so cutting larger blocks was not possible, and it wasn't like perfect firewood was just laying around here. Hopefully these branches would last some time. But she had no idea what to do after.

She had to come up with a plan of action, this wasn’t working. Okay, she had to pull herself back together. What did she know about this place? A list. Yes, a list was good. A list would help her get her mind right, to get her thoughts in order.

One: she was definitely at Midgard

Two: Ragnar had somehow gotten her here with a portal machine

Three: the people of Midgard were NOT happy with her and Toothless at all. At least, not when she was flying around.

She heard a snap. Hiccup whirled around and pulled Inferno from its place against her leg. Her gaze glided around the trees, trunks, grass, rocks and bushes. She saw nothing.

"Hello?" She asked carefully, her head slightly cocked to the side in an attempt to pick up unusual sounds.

She heard a soft, purring-like sound. Almost like a rolling 'r'. She twirled around again and held her finger close to the button of Inferno. She hoped she wouldn’t need the sword; she was in a forest and if any of these leaves or branches caught fire she would have a huge problem. The growling-purring sound moved through the canopy of trees, Hiccup tried to follow it with her eyes but she saw nothing.

Suddenly the purring was behind a bush. Whatever it was, it was fast. Small, light footsteps came from the bush and Hiccup was one second away from igniting Inferno when she saw what it was.

"A Terrible Terror?" She asked out loud.

A forest green little dragon that strongly resembled a crossing between a lizard and a gecko crawled out from the bush. He had huge eyes and at the end of his tail was a little triangle. The Terrible Terror cocked his head as he looked at her. His pink tongue shot out to lick its eye and it walked closer in curiosity.

Hiccup knelt down and held her hand out to the dragon. "Hey there, little buddy. How did you end up here all alone?"

Terrible Terrors were pack animals, they hunted with at least five other Terrors. Finding a single one either meant the rest was lying in an ambush, or it had been separated from its pack.

"Did you end up here the same way I did?" Hiccup asked. The Terrible Terror sniffed the air close to her fingers, then growled at her held out hand.

Hiccup's hand went to her pocked and she took out the package of food. It wasn't easy for a Terror to be all on its own. It made hunting a whole lot more difficult and this little fellow was probably starving. She held out the left over roasted strips of boar towards him and he purred, crawling closer again and snatching the meat from her hand.

"See? I just want to be friends," Hiccup said, holding her hand out again. The Terror sniffed the air once more, but now pressed his nose against her palm. She chuckled. The Terror trotted closer, circled around her and jumped up against her back. His claws hooked in the fabric of her clothes and he purred in her ear.

"Okay," Hiccup said, coming up, "I guess you're with me now. But how should I name you? Any ideas?"

He purred and licked his eyeball.

"Okay... how about... Dart! Because you darted from one place to the other!"

The Terrible Terror shrieked and purred.

"Dart it is."

Hiccup made her way back to the cave, Dart on her back. The Terror watched her pick up branches and stuff them in her back so it didn't take long before Dart darted off and started gathering the largest branches he could find and lift up.

How did the little fellow even get here? It wasn’t like this was his natural habitat. This was another world. Maybe he indeed came here the same way she did, by Ragnar’s doing. Maybe this Terrible Terror had stood in his way and he used that odd box to teleport him here. Or maybe Ragnar just wanted to try it out, practice with it, or whatever reason he had to zap dragons to other worlds.

They dragged all the wood into the cave where Toothless was still waiting for her return.

He looked a little better already, still tired though. But when he saw the little intruder flying into the cave he stood up and snarled, showing his teeth and flaring his wings. The Terrible Terror shrieked and jumped onto her back, spreading his wings too and hissing back at Toothless.

"Hey hey hey! It's okay, Toothless, this is Dart, Dart, this is Toothless. You're both my friends," Hiccup said quickly, before the two dragons would jump onto each other.

Toothless snorted, as if saying 'But I am her BEST friend!'

Dart growled and jumped to the ground, slowly crawling closer to the big dragon. While they got to know each other Hiccup made a pile of the branches and broke the bigger ones in two. As soon as she had a reasonable pile of firewood she looked up at Toothless. Dart was sitting next to him.

"Toothless, if you don't mind?"

Toothless opened his mouth and send a plasma blast to the pile of wood. The branches caught fire and in no time there was a warm campfire crisping inside the cave. Both Toothless and Dart came closer to where Hiccup was sitting. Toothless curled around Hiccup and Dart crawled onto her lap. She felt the warmth of their bodies press against her and a shiver made its way through her frame.

"Thanks guys," she whispered. Her hand stroked the Terror's belly while her other hand scratched Toothless' chin.

She stared at the flames before her in silence. And she wondered: what now? She had no way of going back to Berk. She had never ever been on another planet before in her life. It was always just Berk, until she met Toothless but even than it had just been island hopping. _World_ hopping was a whole new experience because she had no idea how to get out of this place. At least back on her own planet she could always fly back home if things got difficult or if she was homesick. Now that became a whole lot harder.

Ragnar had used some device to get her here, it seemed logical she would need a similar device to get back. But where could she find one? Was it possible to make one? What did she need to make it? Now that she thought about it, she was lucky to end up on Midgard. One different movement and for all she knew she could have ended up on Jotunheim, Svartelheim or on Thor knows what. At least she was in an environment with a species looking exactly like her.

Mortal humans came in all sorts and measures. They were small and fat, tall and thin, had big eyes or narrow eyes, were brown or white, long hair or short hair. It didn't matter if she looked different because humans are crazy sometimes and dress themselves in the most weird way possible. Those two girls in the town thought she was going to… Comic Con? Was that it? They said her outfit was amazing and moved on.

She wasn't very outstanding at all. If she could get her hands on different clothes and cover up her metal leg she was your friendly common travel girl nobody would stare at or look at twice. She was white, an average height, had long brown hair and green eyes and a slender build. Nothing that would call the attention of people.

Of course there was one problem...

Her gaze shifted towards the jet black dragon next to her and she bit the inside of her cheek. There was no way she could smuggle Toothless with her into the civilization but there was also no way that she was going alone. She had done that, and didn’t like it. Things just weren't the same without Toothless and he was her bonded, she couldn't leave him!

But she couldn't take him everywhere with her either, he was simply crossing the human's 'weirdness that we accept but still find it weird' line too far. They would jump onto him, take him away from her, kill him, whatever would happen Toothless would put up a fight and innocent people would get hurt or worse. So going together wasn’t an option.

She needed to find that Phillip Coulson guy. Maybe he could tell her where to go, or how to make a device similar to Ragnar’s. She hoped he could. Or maybe he knew people who could help her, people who could make portals or who knew the doorways to other worlds. She just needed someone with that type of knowledge. Maybe that Phillip guy had it. 

But she still had to find out where the hell he was.

   

* * *

 

Of course.

_Of_ _course_.

 

Of course of all people  _he_ had to be the one to go inform Fury with all the details and shit. Tony and Fury had never gotten along well. They could be in each other’s presence without jumping at each other’s throats, pull knives or guns or whatever, but they both didn’t like it. Fury didn’t like Tony’s reckless, I-do-whatever-I-want type of behavior, and Tony didn’t like Fury’s controlling, manipulative, I-am-so-much-better-than-you type of behavior. Oh, and the lying. He hated that the most.

They didn’t really blame or judge each other, though. They just wished to meet as less as possible and stay away from each other. In desperate times of need, they were willing to put up with one another but only if they really had to.

The motor of Tony’s car was entirely silent when he drove up to the big tower. It was fully electric, made by none other than himself. The car was white, but with blue, red and a golden stripes along the sides. There were some who said that it looked horrible, that the colors didn’t match or didn’t look good on the car, but Tony couldn’t care less what they thought of it. The blue, red and golden remembered him of certain things, things that made him feel happy and safe, so it was enough for him.

He walked up to the big Tower and went inside, swiftly swiping his card in front of the scanner.

“Welcome, boss,” Friday chirped up. She went everywhere he went. Whether in his car, in his suit, in one of his houses or in Stark Tower, she was always there with him. Tony took a look around the lobby of Stark Tower, this building had cost a lot of money and a lot of time. More money and time than people realize. It wasn’t just some big business building like any other, Stark Tower was truly unique.

The top ten floors were all R&D. That’s right, the ten floors below the penthouse were all for research and development. So that was ten floors of employees working right there. As for what was on the other fifty floors, there was legal – including a section for intellectual property and trademark – , accounting, advertising, risk assessment, human resources, conference service, charitable giving, in-house IT, analysts, visitor information centers, tech support, product information, security, mail, document control (crucial for engineering firms, which dealt with large amounts of paperwork and deliverable documents), conference rooms, supply rooms, break rooms, reception rooms, and even in-house cafes or coffee shops. Stark Tower was bigger than most people thought it was.

It had previously been named Avengers Tower, but since the Avengers now stayed in the bigger and more private Compound, it was back to being named Stark Tower. Avengers Compound was a better choice to live in because it was more remote and more private than the Tower. There was a forest close by where they could train and enjoy nature in peace, and if an accident was ever to happen, no innocent civilians would get caught up in the mess.

At the ground floor there was an entrance lobby where employees, consultants, maintenance staff, salesmen, security guards, sundry representatives (such as from other companies that Tony Stark, Stark Industries, and the Avengers in general worked with as well as from various government offices), and visitors were coming and going particularly during business hours.

So naturally, when Tony stepped in, it was buzzing with life. This had previously been his home, a place for him to stay and relax. And then, for a while, this had been a place to stay for the Avengers. But when their team kept expanding and there were more cons than pro's of living here, they moved. At first, they had all lived on their own, by themselves. In an apartment, house, wherever they lived. But with the Avengers HQ they didn't have to anymore. Sure, they didn't live there 24/7, but they could crash there any time they wanted. And some of them didn't really have a choice. 

Pietro and Wanda didn’t have a home, as it had fallen from the sky, and they didn’t have any family anymore. So living at Avengers HQ seemed naturally for them. Tony already lived there, so that didn’t need much explanation. He had built it and moved in. Stark Tower was still there, and still in possession of Tony Stark, but it was only for work.

Theoretically, he could move most of Stark Tower (business and such) to the Avengers HQ, but he didn’t want to. Moving it to the HQ meant he had to fire a lot of people, and since Tony had a habit of helping the less fortunate, the people he hired were the people who needed the money badly. So he didn’t have the heart to fire them if it wasn’t necessary. Pepper worked there a lot too. It was still a fine office building, keeping Stark Industries rolling.

Thor basically only came to Earth for the Avengers and for Jane Foster, so Avengers HQ was the perfect place to stay. Getting a house or apartment wasn’t gonna work since he had no real job and wouldn’t be using the house much anyway. It seemed pointless to buy a place to stay if he was going to be around the Avengers all day anyway.

Natasha didn't really have a home either; she had been living with SHIELD for a long time. Ever since Clint had convinced her to join SHIELD she had been staying in SHIELD owned places. Apartments, houses, hotels, motels, whatever was available. She was on the job almost all the time so she traveled a lot too. It felt nice to finally have a real home to stay, where she could always return to. A place where she would be surrounded by people she knew and trusted. 

Now, Steve did have an apartment, and so did Sam. Steve always clearly remembered the day he and Natasha had knocked on Sam’s door, saying everyone wanted to kill them. Sam had simply said ‘Not everyone’, had looked around to see if they had been tailed and got them inside. Sam let them in so easily. Later, when Sam became an Avenger, it soon became clear that there were only perks to living in Avengers Head Quarters. Alright, maybe there was a little less privacy but still, the place was huge and it was a lot safer. He now rented his apartment to a friend of his. A trusted friend. 

Steve had left his own apartment, moved permanently. At first, he had been reluctant to. But after talking with Tony, and being painfully aware of how empty and silent that small apartment of his was, he moved in. Tony didn't show it, but with every Avenger moving in he became a little bit happier. He liked having his friends so closely around, standing at his side in merely a few seconds when he was in need of help. 

Banner was a bit like Pietro, Wanda and Natasha. He didn't have a house. Ever since he became the Hulk he had been hunted down by General Ross. He had been through shit, through extremely traumatic experiences. In the Avengers HQ, he was free to go wherever he wanted, surrounded by trusted friends all day and left to himself. Years of his life had passed by in which he had been scared to transform into the Hulk, he felt this constant anger and fright, he had to constantly be on his toes. Now, he didn't have to. He could relax, do things he enjoyed. He didn't need to be afraid that Ross was coming for him anymore, that cruel General couldn't get to him, never. There were plenty of people making sure of that. 

Clint did have his own apartment, and sometimes he'd tell a complicated story about how he got it. Something about the Mafia, a game of cards, winning, fighting, almost dying and then winning again. He had won the building or something..? Nobody was entirely sure about it. Sometimes Clint would stay at his own apartment for a week, and then a month at Avengers HQ, it depended on his mood. 

 

Pulling himself from his thoughts, Tony caught a glimpse of Happy Hogan scowling people for not properly wearing their badge, not wearing a tie or talking too much during work hours. Tony lifted a brief hand at him and he got a nod back, accompanied with a smile. There had been a time that Happy was his bodyguard, but since he was Iron Man and hung out with all the Avengers, Happy became… superfluous. People would laugh at him when he said he was Iron Man’s bodyguard. So instead, Tony made him Head of Security of Stark Tower, a big responsibility that granted him respect and recognition. It was a hard job, but Happy was a hard worker.

It didn’t take long before Happy had caught up with Tony on his way to the elevator.

“Tony.”

“Happy.”

Tony pressed the up button of the elevator and they waited for it to come down. The red numbers above the elevator doors counted down.

“It’s been a while,” Tony said, looking at his old friend.

“Yeah, you could say that again.”

“How have you been?”

“Busy. People around here refuse to wear their badges correctly and keep overstepping the safety rules I made.”

Knowing Happy for years, Tony knew that there had to be _a lot_ of rules. He nodded with lips pressed onto each other. He knew that as soon as they had entered the elevator, and the doors had closed behind them, the small talk would disappear like snow on a hot day. Happy was visible… _upset_ about something. He wasn’t angry, but he wasn’t pleased with Tony either, he could see that.

And he was right.

As soon as the elevator doors closed behind them and they had gone up about five stores Happy hit the STOP button and the elevator stopped immediately. Tony knew it was ridiculous, but he felt like a child who had broken something and knew his parents would come to talk to him about it, but he had no idea when.

Happy turned to him. “Are you out of your mind?!”

There it was.

“Listen, Hap-”

“No, Tony, _you_ listen! Are you insane? Why in the world would you take that manic into your house?!”

“I take it you talked to Pepper?”

“Why Tony? No, _when_? When were you gonna tell me?”

Tony rubbed his hands across his face. He didn’t want to have this conversation again. He had already talked to Pepper about it, to Steve, to the other Avengers. He didn’t want to have to explain it again, mainly because it took the others _so long_ to get it. He had to tell them time and time again that Loki wasn’t the bad guy anymore, that he deserved a second chance. That whatever punishment people saw fit for him, he had gotten it. He had been tortured in all ways possible, it was enough.

And Tony had spent time with him, so Tony got to know him. The real him.

“Okay, you see, I-”

“Wait, hold up.”

Happy pressed the STOP button again and they waited in silence until they had reached the twelfth floor. Tony looked at Happy in confusion, eyebrows knitted together. Why were they going to that floor?

He was about to ask when the doors opened and none other than James Rhodes stood there. Okay, and when exactly had Rhodey arrived?? He looked angry too and Tony knew he was drowning in a sea of trouble. He hadn’t told Rhodey either, but it was all the government could talk about. It wasn’t publicly known; they had successfully hidden it from the press, but there was no doubt the higher bosses knew. After all, Steve had talked to them a few days ago.

Tony felt bad for him. He knew that even though he was Captain fucking America, the government didn’t take a liking toward him. Probably because they had expected him to be a whole different person; someone who followed the orders of the government like a dog followed the orders of his owner. When Steve Rogers came out of the ice, and it turned out that he wasn’t like they wanted him to be, things got… tight.

Steve held respect for anything and anyone, but for real, that man didn’t take shit from anyone. Especially from high-authority figures. They could talk for about as long as they wanted, Steve’s will was as strong as his shield. He fought for what _he_ believed was right, not for whatever reasons the government came up with. Tony respected that. And he liked that Steve didn’t live up to his – apparently made-up – ‘legends’. Or whatever people told about him.

But anyway, Rhodey walked inside too and they rose about two levels before Rhodey slammed the STOP button and the elevator came to a halt once more.

“Rhodey –”

“When, Tony? When were you going to tell us?”

“Right fucking now if the both of you would stop interrupting me!” Tony called out. His two friends shared a look and then nodded. Rhodey gestured for him to talk.

So he explained that on the mission he had gone on, the one with the government training building where they needed some info from, he had found a secured room and obviously he couldn’t keep his hands for himself especially when he saw there was blood on it. Very old blood, but still blood.

He opened it and found this man, beat up till unrecognizable and miraculously still alive. That it was Loki and _blah blah blah_. He tried to keep it short, being fed up with telling the same story over and over again.

He quickly mentioned that Pepper was the second person to hear it and she was on board. Peter was too, and Steve also.

He hadn’t told Rhodey before because he didn’t really get the chance to. There was the time with the bogey, but they both had been too occupied with the bogey and it was just such an awkward and odd subject. Now wasn’t the best time either, and Tony was just really bad at talking about things like this. To him, it never seemed like the right time.

Rhodey then told Tony that he had heard about the Loki-thing from the Head Secretary. It was supposed to be kept on the downlow but because of some reasons they decided to ask Rhodey about this whole thing, and that’s how he found out about Loki. Fair’s fair, Rhodey had to admit they had done a fantastic job at keeping him hidden from the outside world. The Avengers had all kept insanely quiet about Loki too. The rule was simple; if you knew about him, you shut up about him.

Even the missions had been done in complete silence. So Rhodey had never found out. Yeah, Tony suspected Rhodey suspected something, sometimes. But the Colonel had never expected to stumble upon _this_.

One of the reasons the Council had told Rhodey, was that apparently Steve had mouthed off to the Head Secretary and the Committee General in front of the whole Council, which they didn’t like a bit so they told Rhodey, because they thought he knew about Loki. But he didn’t…

Tony couldn’t suppress a giggle when he heard about Steve and the Council. _Go Steve_. But Rhodey seemed to think it was anything _but_ funny.

“No, Tony, I don’t think _you_ understand. The Council, they’re mad. They already don’t like it that Barnes and Loki are here, then the one time Steve decided to swear it’s toward them and now this bogey thing? I don’t think you understand how serious this is.”

“I know it’s serious, I really do. But Rhodey I gotta know. What did he say?”

Rhodey wiped over his face with his hand and groaned softly. He leaned with his face against his hand, covering his eyes as he mumbled, “It’s a real damn shame nobody asked you.”

He couldn’t help it. He _really_ couldn’t help it. Tony let out a burst of deep, loud, hearty laughter that he tried to push down as soon as possible.

Happy rolled his eyes and smacked Tony’s arm. Rhodey just tried burying his face further into his hand.

*******

He was wearing a black trench coat and heavy black boots. His posture was straight like there was a rope coming from his head that pulled him upright, and his hands were folded behind his back. His head was bald and around it was a black strap. He was looking out the window, his back toward the door Tony came through.

His conversation with Rhodey and Happy was done. There wasn’t much to say. Loki was good, Tony trusted Loki, Pepper was okay with it too, they were friends, blah blah blah. And now, Tony had to talk with someone else. About the same subject. Tony was getting a bit fed up with having to explain it time and time again.

“Anthony Stark,” the person said, without turning around, “it’s been a while.”

Tony almost rolled his eyes at that as he walked up to next to the person, standing still before the window. It showed the city of New York on one of its busiest hours. “Yeah, people keep telling me that. I could explain why I wasn’t around much but I take a guess you already know the reason.”

A huff. “I thought I could see right through you, Stark. I thought that I knew enough about you to somewhat predict what you would do in certain situations. But let me tell you, I did not expect you to take that half-dead wanna-be god home with you.”

“Hey,” Tony said, feeling a little offended on Loki’s behalf.

The person turned a little toward Tony. His black trench coat wasn't closed and it fell a bit to the side. Tony just barely caught a glimpse of something shiny attached to his belt. Something that reflected the light of the sun shining through the window. A lens, Tony thought, why did he have a lens on his belt? The man continued talking, "I did not expect you to leave him, but I thought you would throw him into a cell you approved of and then leave him there."

“Yeah, well, you don’t know me at all.”

“I know you better than you know yourself, Stark. SHIELD has –”

“Yeah, yeah, you and your SHIELD thing. What’s it again? Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division? More like, Shit Hydra Is Everywhere Lock Down.”

Unable to control himself, he started giggling, letting it cascade into a full blown guffaw. Director Fury looked less than unimpressed and even though Tony couldn’t see it, he suspected Fury from rolling his eye. “I’ve been waiting to make that joke for months!”

“Funny. But I don’t care. Let’s stay on the subject.”

Like that, Tony stopped laughing.

“You wanna stay on the subject? Fine. I found him, he was hurt terribly, I took him home, and nursed him back to health. There really isn’t anything else to say. I _want_ to say that I don’t have to explain myself to you, but I know I _do_ and the only thing I have to say is that I’m not going to apologize for what I did. I followed a gut feeling and you know what? I think it turned out right.”

“He was a big threat three years ago, Stark. Some say he still is. He is a dangerous criminal who murdered people and tried to take over our Earth.”

It didn’t even sound like he really meant it, Fury said it plain and almost, _almost_ questioning. It was then that Tony realized Fury wasn’t trying to give him reasons to have Loki locked up again, but that he was asking Tony for reasons to let him _stay_. 

Or at least, he hoped that was what Fury was aiming for.

“He went on a few missions with us. Everything went fine. And he gave us instructions when he didn’t tag along. He’s a pretty decent Guy In The Chair, he thinks of everything and is incredibly focused. He plays by our rules and he’s a nice guy.”

There was a moment of silence in which Fury ducked his head for a second. “Do his good deeds outweigh his bad? Think about the family and friends of people he’s killed.”

 _Coulson_. Fury wanted to know if it was truly worth it. Of course, he was devastated about his friend’s death. But Fury wasn’t one to be lead by emotions. He could be able to move on, to let his friend’s killer stay with the Avengers, but only if it was worth it. Only if they knew for sure he wasn’t going to pull any stunts.

Fury wasn’t stupid, he knew Loki would be a valuable asset. He was a god with insane magic skills and a lot of un-Earthly knowledge. It would be stupid to let that slip through their hands. But he also didn’t just want to forgive and forget, he didn’t want to take Loki’s possible betrayal for granted. No.

Only if Fury knew for sure that wouldn’t happen, that Loki wouldn’t screw them over, he was willing to let him stay. But only then.

“I mean… If you’re angry about what happened, I get that. After all, Coulson is… _dead_.” It took him some effort to get those words out. He knew Coulson was a touchy subject when around Fury. They had been more than just colleagues, they were friends. They were on the same level, both had this gut feeling they followed and Tony always had the idea that something had happened in the past between them that had been the foundation of trust. Something had happened that they put faith in each other and trusted each other deeply.

Fury glanced at him shortly, the corner of his mouth curled up the slightest and there was a soft huff. “Is he, though?”

It took Tony a moment to let that sink in.

Is he, though?

_Is he, though?_

His eyes became twice the original size and his mouth opened to let out a scream that would remotely resemble the word ‘what’, but before he could Fury shushed him by holding a simple hand up.

“Don’t freak out. Not many people know and I like to keep it, _low key_.” Saying those last two words he looked Tony right in the eyes, as if he was going to burn a hole in them.

“U-understood,” Tony mumbled. “But he’s alive?!”

“Alive and kicking. Don’t ask how, I can’t explain. Which brings us to the next subject that I cannot explain; the unknown aircraft.”

Right, the bogey. The thing Tony came to Stark Tower for. The thing Tony had to talk to Fury about. The Director must have heard something from Rhodey or Allen, how else would he know about it? It had happened merely a few hours ago. But then again, sometimes it seemed like Fury knew everything.

“What do you think it is?”

“Honestly?” Tony answered, “I have no idea. At first I would have guessed it was a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird aircraft, because of the bogey’s color and speed. But now… I think it’s alien, because of what its capable of doing. It can fly at the speed of sound, dive deeper than any other aircraft I’ve seen and even if an aircraft would be able of flying that fast and being _that_ maneuverable, it would have to be as light and slender as possible.”

“And?”

“And, that would mean it wouldn’t have room for any high-tech weapons, which it does! It blew up a missile with ease! And we don’t even know what it fired, because whatever it is, it ain’t a missile, bomb or bullets I’ve ever seen before!”

“So, it _is_ alien?”

Tony gave a vague shrug of his shoulders and ran his hand through his hair. “I think so, but I have no idea.”

“Is it hostile?”

“I-” Tony stopped in the middle of his sentence. Was it hostile? Was it? It didn’t fire at them, it just defended itself. It did blow up a small town, but that could be because there were terrorists. “I don’t know. It attacked the terrorists near Norfolk-”

“The _bogey_ took out those Ten Ring terrorists?” Fury interrupted him.

Tony nodded wordlessly. Apparently Fury didn’t know _that_ little detail.

“Why?”

“I have no idea. It just did. And when it was done it flew away.”

“Do you know where it came from?”

“Space? I just said, I don’t know.”

“Well, then go figure it out! I have people working on a location as we speak and when they find the whereabouts of this bogey, I want you and the Avengers to get your ass over there, and find that thing. You understand?”

Wait, what? Fury had people working at the location, already? Just exactly how much did this guy know? And how the hell was he always able to get information this fast? Even Tony, with his high-tech AI couldn’t get information this quickly.

_Fury knew everything._

“We will not be caught with our pants down again, we find out how to take this thing down before it takes us down, can you handle that?”

Jeez, someone needed to give this guy a chill-pill, Tony thought. They could do this, piece of cake. They were with a lot of Avengers right now. A whole team with powerful members. They could take out one little bogey. Even if it was alien, they had aliens themselves, so whatever it turned out to be they could handle it. They always handled it.

“Fury, relax, come on. When has Tony ever let you down?”

“Constantly.”

Ouch. That hurt.

“I ask you again, do you think you can handle it?”

"Fury, we’re the Avengers. If we only screw up twice before breakfast, it was a very good morning."

Fury’s eyebrows lowered and it was almost as if his eyes turned a shade darker.

“Yes, yes, we can handle it,” Tony added quickly, not wanting to piss off Fury any more than he was already pissed off, “No problem at all.”

He sighed and turned back toward the window, hands shoved into his pockets. "Operation ‘This Will Most Likely End Badly’ is a go."

  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know. They still didn't meet. I 'ugh' at it myself too :(  
> But do not worry! Because it is I, Unicorn_Whisperer, who, in the next chapter, will grant you a glorious meeting between the Avengers Team and the Night Fury!  
> Yes! You read it correctly! Next chapter, our heroes' paths will cross. Secrets are revealed, shots are fired, magic blooms and dragons howl. It's my best writing up to now, I think. I don't know, I just really like that chapter. 
> 
> Until we meet again...


	14. Dawn of Destruction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Follow-up on the F-22 Raptor chase. Tony assembles a part of the team, the radar said it was heading his way.

“I still don’t think coming here was a good idea,” Clint said, stretching his limbs a bit as he stood still. His feet hurt, and he was tired. Not to mention he was bored of walking endlessly through this stupid forest.

Tony had assembled the team to go after this bogey that had showed up on Air Force radar, but which two F-22 Raptors had failed to catch. Fury had his own team working on the location and it had barely taken an hour or two to track the thing down. They didn’t know it’s exact location, just a general area where it could be.

They had been on the move for a day or two now. Walking endlessly through the giant forest. Searching the area where it had to be took even longer than finding out where it was. Not everyone of the team had been at the Avengers Compound when they assembled, some were gone on a mission themselves.

Wanda and Pietro for example, were in Sokovia, dealing with some small HYDRA facilities, Sam had gone with them to keep an eye out. They would be back soon, they probably were back by the time this part of the Avengers was too. Bruce was still at Avengers Head Quarters, everyone had agreed it was best of him to stay there. No need for Code Green. Vision was… well… still gone. So, they probably had to go after that too once they had handled the bogey.

Thor had been eager to come. There hadn’t been much he could do the past weeks and he got really bored. And of course, he had brought Loki with him. Tony and Steve were a bit unsure about that, Loki was still healing after all. Tony hadn’t saved him _that_ long ago. The rest of the team still wasn’t entirely convinced either, and not just about his healing. More about him as a person.

However, Loki _had_ shown to be a good asset to the team in the few, few missions he had tagged alone, some easy ones. His perfect use of magic and the ability to create illusions did turn out to come in quite handy when used _for_ them, not _against_ them. And this was when he was only on barely half of his strength. All wondered what it would be like if he was on full strength.

“And why’s that?” Natasha asked.

Clint shrugged. “Well, hmm, let me see. We are chasing a thing no has gotten a good look on, so we don’t know what it is or what it even looks like. It is faster than two F-22 Raptors with excellent pilots, and I don’t know about you guys but that scares me a little bit! Wait.”

Clint took his phone from his pocket and opened Google, he typed something in the search balk. Steve walked passed him with Bucky right behind him. The second was always following the Captain like a puppy. But most of the time he was more of an attack dog, glaring and practically growling at everyone who either came too close to him or was expressing threatening behavior towards Steve. When he had been with the team for a longer time though, that protectiveness of Steve had expanded to protectiveness of the whole team (although of some more than others).

Sam, for instance, had still trouble with making peace with Bucky. He was still a bit mad about his car (always telling wild stories about how Bucky had broken his front window and tore the steering wheel right off the dashboard, or that he had let his car crash, almost tore his wings apart and tried to kill them all) and was still a bit wary of the soldier. Bucky on his turn didn’t feel much protectiveness towards the flyer. Perhaps he felt like Sam could protect himself well enough. Some found that strange, as if Rogers _couldn’t_ protect himself.

But if for example Natasha was in danger Bucky didn’t hesitate to swoop in and shoot the brains out of whoever was endangering her. Same was with Wanda and Pietro. Though Bucky was wary of the ‘witch’ he still cared for her and made sure that if she was ever in trouble he would be right there to help her out. But he was still found most of the time close to Steve.

But that didn’t mean Barnes couldn’t make his own decisions or think for himself. James didn’t speak much. He chose his words carefully. And _when_ he chose to say something then you knew that it was worth listening to. What he spared on speaking time he spent on astute observations.

Clint showed his phone to the others who only threw a short glance. “Here,” he said, “‘The Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor is a fifth-generation, single-seat, twin-engine, all-weather stealth tactical fighter aircraft developed for the United States Air Force. The result of the USAF's Advanced Tactical Fighter program, the aircraft was designed primarily as an air superiority fighter, but also has ground attack, electronic warfare, and signal intelligence capabilities.’ You hear that? And this little black thing managed to outfly both and stay practically invisible. It could also fire huge purple blasts that took out a missile with ease.”

“Did you just seriously read Wikipedia?” Natasha asked.

“Your point, Clint?” Tony interrupted as he passed by. The archer gave him an annoyed look.

“My point is, that having Wanda, Colonel Rhodes or Sam would have been great. I mean, having Thor, Loki, Natasha, Tony, Bucky and Steve and myself is fine too. But we lack some Air Force and stuff. Thor can swing his hammer and Tony, you can fly, but farther? Natasha, Bucky, Loki, Steve and I are all kinda helpless if that thing flies faster than the speed of sound. We’re sitting ducks. It’s no offence towards us, but we just _can’t_ fly, and we don’t have telekinesis.”

Loki walked a tad slower so the rest caught up with him. “If I may,” he said in his own, fancy word using way, “perhaps I can create multiple illusions so whatever we are chasing might think we are somewhere we are not. Perhaps I can even lure it towards the ground.”

Tony made finger guns towards the god and nodded in agreement. “I for one, am agreeing with that plan.”

The team had learned that Loki was not the worst guy out there. He actually had some resemblances towards the team. Natasha discovered that she and the god had some things in common. They both shared some strategies, despite their differences. Letting people underestimate them. Using their good looks with nefarious intentions. Making people talk themselves into trouble, spill their best-kept secrets without realizing it.

And besides, Natasha had also started in the opposite side, and she knew how it was, as did Bucky, as did Wanda and Pietro. They knew what it was like when no one trusted you and looked down on you for what you used to be. The dirty looks, the fear in some people who were supposed to be with you. It could be rough, and Loki was a more sensitive soul than she had been, so she knew it hurt him, all the bad comments and mean messages from other agents and operatives. Idiots. She also knew he masked it, pushed it down, pretended like he didn’t care and enjoyed being alone. She knew he didn’t, he just wanted someone to approve him, mostly Thor.

Loki was a great asset and bullying him would only move he god further away from them. And... Loki could be a nice guy, in his own strange self-involved bitter way. He was great with ironies (one of the few who could shut up and outdo Stark which was quite the achievement) and he was strangely loyal to those he considered underdogs, people he considered hadn't been sufficiently appreciated, like him. Like Wanda. Like Pietro. Younger siblings all, never the face of any group. But important, and powerful.

Of course, so now and then Loki proposed the craziest ideas he could ever come up with and he was a little nuts, the success rate of their missions had gone way up (turned out Loki liked to be ‘The Guy In The Chair’ because he couldn’t tag along with the wounds and all). Also because Loki always seemed to think of anything. He told them he loved to read and so obtained a lot of knowledge. He wasn’t big and strong like Thor, so he kept his mind sharp and lean, out-thinking his opponents rather than just running and start punching.

Also, another handy thing was he could stuff a lot into his pocket dimensions and make it reappear whenever he wanted.

When someone was hungry; he got energy bars. When someone was cold; he had an extra cape you could wrap around yourself. When someone had lost their gun; he had an extra together with about fifty knives hid in his suit (like really. He had knives up his sleeve, in his pockets, in his boots, _underneath_ his boots, in his pants, strapped to his thighs, hidden in the collar of his coat and whatnot. He even had a long, sharp, iron pin braided in his hair).

Having someone with pocket dimensions came in handy when they had to travel fast and light, because the stuff was there, but it _wasn’t_ there. It was only there when they needed it.

The team stopped on an open field in what seemed to be the middle of the forest. They were surrounded by trees and had a pretty view of the sunset that was soon to be. Thor said he would scout their surroundings a bit more, to make sure they had no unwanted guests coming along on their mission.

“So,” Tony said, sitting down on a large rock, “What now?”

Loki cocked his head to the side a bit and raised his hands before his body. He held his left hand above his right with a few inches space between them and started moving his fingers. A green glow appeared in the space between his hands and Loki was mouthing a silent chant. The magic seemed to falter a bit occasionally and Loki had a frustrated look on his face. After his hands had been put in acid his spells never seemed to work as well as they had done before. But he was getting better at it, slowly.

To everyone’s surprise Bucky stood fairly close to him. It was obvious he was trying to hide it, but they could still see he was curious of the magic. Something he had in common with Steve. Both those oldies were fierce, intimidating and righteous, always focusing on their goal, but threw in some magic sparks and they were like cats, distracted by pretty lights.

Clint too by the way.

He was already standing right behind the god, but still on a safe distance at first. Clint had been the one with the most problem to have Loki on the team. Clint had experienced Loki’s magic first handed and he hated it. He hated what the god had done to him. It had been a most traumatic experience and he never wished to relive it. Loki had made some attempts to make peace, but Clint had never really felt like it, so they stayed wary of each other, circling around like tigers in a cage, eyes narrowed to see which one of the two would attack first.

Clint knew what had happened to the god, it made it easier to sympathize with him. But it didn’t change the fact that every time he saw a blue light together with something green he rushed to the first mirror he could find to check his eyes. Check if they weren’t that awful shade of blue again.

But Clint could be as stupid and impulsive as he was good in archery, so his hand was reaching out for the green glow because Clint always forgot to not touch unknown/suspicious objects/glows, especially when it came to magic.

“Touch it and not even I will be able to reverse the damage it will do to you,” Loki said. Clint withdrew his hand but kept staring.

“What kind of damage? What does it do?” Clint asked, because he was ever curious to everything dangerous.

“It is rather complicated to explain. It is an easy spell to perform, yet it can have grand consequences. The spell allows me to see beyond my vision. For example, I do not suppose anyone here can look what is behind those trees, can you?”

All heads shook no.

“With this spell I can; it extends my vision. This may take another moment, just go back to doing what you were doing.”

The glow between Loki’s hands became brighter and sparks appeared. The Trickster god threw it up in the air and the ball of light exploded. Some sort of wave of light spread away from them fast, green glows dancing across tree tops, disappearing beyond their vision.

“Whoa,” multiple Avengers said at once. They looked back at Loki and saw the god had his hands back in their previous position, the left above the right and the faint glow was between them. Only now his eyes glowed a same glowing forest green color.

“What do you think he’s seeing?” Tony asked Steve. The soldier shrugged and kept looking at the god. “Probably just trees and rocks,” he answered.

From the trees came Thor, his bright red cape flying after him and his long, blond hair softly fluttering in the wind. He walked with big steps at his brother, seemingly not knowing Loki was in the middle of a spell.

Bucky’s eyebrows furrowed, and he tilted his head up a bit, the curtain of brown hair falling back towards his ears away from his eyes. He knew barely something of magic, but even he could imagine you weren’t supposed to interrupt someone who was performing a spell. Same as you shouldn’t interrupt someone who is concentrating on knife throwing, or when Stark was practicing with his Iron Man repulsors.

Thor still didn’t seem to notice and before anyone could do anything he patted his brother on the back. But not just a simple pat, with Thor’s pats you were always pushed forwards with such force you almost fell. Thor’s sudden push caused Loki to pull his hands apart, causing him to break the spell. The green glow disappeared and for a second everyone thought the spell had just ended, that nothing would happen.

Oh, how _wrong_ they were.

In the split-second that followed Loki stretched out an arm to push Thor away. Because Loki had also superhuman strength and threw in some magic, Thor was pushed away a few feet. Then the glow came back as a big ball of green light – and it exploded right in Loki’s face. There was a flash of a bright light and the team was forced to close their eyes. As soon as the blast came as soon it was gone again.

Loki lay a few meters away from his original spot, on his side in the grass, pressing his hands against his chest. The team stood there in shock. Tony’s eyes were widest of them all.

“Thor, you _idiot_!” Loki cried out.

Thor looked at his brother with big eyes. In the next second, he was rushing at his brother, throwing himself down on his knees next to him on the ground, asking him repeatedly if he was okay. Loki came up, using his elbows which seemed like a rather awkward way to push yourself up, repeating he was fine.

Both gods came up from the ground and walked back at the others, Loki was still pressing his hands against his chest, Thor held a protective hand on Loki’s back in case something else would happen. And while they walked Thor apologized a hundred times.

“How many times have I told you not to interrupt someone who is practicing magic, you oaf!” Loki snapped, but he didn’t sound all too mean. His face was even more pale than normal, so it was more likely he was just spooked, though he would probably never admit it.

Tony quickly lowered himself to the ground next to the gods. He too had grown protective over Loki as he had been the one to take care of him after his time in _that place_.

“I am so sorry, brother. It will never happen again! I will watch out better next time, I did not know you were performing a spell I will make sure I do know next time!” Thor said. Loki rolled his eyes.

“It’s fine, Thor. We have bigger problems,” he said.

“Like what?” Steve asked.

The whole team felt nervous. If Loki said they had bigger problems something bad would either happen or was already going on. What if those ‘grand consequences’ that Loki mentioned earlier were really, really bad? What if they were all going to implode?!

Loki showed his hands to the rest of the team, palms up. They sucked in a breath. Tony carefully took Loki’s hands in his, letting the back lean into the palm of his own. They had been deeply scarred before, maybe they were never going to fully heal but with some magic they were heading there (it would even go faster when Loki would give in to Tony’s subtle suggestions to step by Doctor Cho, but Loki never gave in, he kept saying; maybe later).

But now they were also red and burned, shaking violently. No extra scarring, only burns. Okay, it wouldn’t matter what Loki said now, Tony was making him see Doctor Cho the second they were back.

They looked up at his still softly glowing, green eyes. “I’m afraid I cannot use my magic anymore.”

Thor looked shocked. His own hands slowly reaching for Loki’s too. The trickster had probably tried to catch the blow with his hands, or to shield it but was too late and got blown back, his hands taking the burn. God, this was bad.

“What do you mean by that?” Tony asked, his voice holding an undertone of stress and panic. He turned Loki’s hands a bit to have a better look at them.

“It is not as bad as it might appear. The burns will heal, and my magic will come back soon, this has happened before. But as I said, ‘It is an easy spell to perform, yet it can have grand consequences. My hands are burned so I cannot use them to focus my magic or to wield a knife. I’m afraid I am ‘out of the game’ like you mortals say. You are _doomed_.”

Tony snorted at that. Thor gave him an angry look, but the team could easily see the slight uptick of the corner of Loki’s mouth. Of course, Loki saw himself as the most powerful member of the team. Of course, they were ‘doomed’ without Loki because they it wasn’t like they didn’t have the literal God of Thunder, Winter Soldier, Black Window, Captain America, Iron Man and Hawkeye on their side. “Yes, totally,” Tony said sarcastically.

Loki pulled his hands away when Thor wanted to take them from Tony. Thor meant well, but for Loki it felt as if he was treated like a five-year-old who had just fallen and whose hands were bleeding a bit. Nobody was born a perfect magician, everybody needed to practice, some more than others. But as with everything magic went wrong so now and then, it was part of the learning process. Loki has had spells blowing up in his face before and he was always fine.

Besides, it wasn’t even that bad, he had worse. Yes, it made the scarring a bit worse, but it was just skin now. His magic was not captured in flesh, it was in his soul, in his very being. It wasn’t going to be stopped by some scarred skin. Plus, Tony had given him some special painkillers before they left. It stopped the pain but didn’t have the side-effects like drowsiness or something like that.  

The team looked around them, unsure what to do next. According to the American Air Force team Fury had brought together, their satellite radar had picked up the same weird, fast-flying dot that had escaped their F-22 Raptors right here. They wondered why it had come to a forest. Maybe there was a secret base somewhere here. Having Pietro would have come in handy right now, he could have scouted this forest in a few minutes.

“So, what now? Are we going to head back?” Natasha asked. She was leaning with her weight on her left leg with one hand on her hip. It was one of her dominance poses; she wanted people to listen and give her a clear answer. The others shrugged. Loki was out, so that was great. But they still had the rest of the team and Tony refused to retreat. That thing had caught his attention and not it was _getting_ his attention _dammit_!

“No, we’re not going back, not yet. I want to know what this thing is and we’re not leaving until we do.”

“And what do you propose we do now?” Steve asked, crossing his hands before his chest and leaning back slightly. Great, so now Steve was showing his dominance pose too!

As an answer Tony grinned widely. “I say we show that thing we’re right here. Loki.”

The God of Mischief looked up at him, snapping out of his own thoughts. They looked directly into each other’s eyes and Tony was the first to talk, holding out his hand to the god.

“Arm me.”

\---

“Firework?” Steve called out, “That’s your plan?! And Loki, stop using magic, you’re hurt!”

The God of Mischief smiled at the soldier, a genuine smile that told him not to worry. “It is alright, Steven. Opening pocket dimensions is like opening a backpack to me.” The God conjured a few firework rockets and passed them over to Tony. Clint looked at it with slacked jaw. So now the Trickster had also _firework_ stuffed in his pocket dimensions? Could anybody learn to make one or…

The rest of the team watched as Tony planted the firework in the earth and ignited the fuse. They all stepped back and waited until they shot up at the sky. Fireworks burst through the falling evening, fiery blooms among the dark clouds.

Fireworks exploded above, vivid colors to ignite the otherwise dark grey sky. Green, red, yellow, orange, purple, it was all there. It was almost romantic, watching firework together like this. If Tony would have been a couple with anyone here he would have kissed her – or him since everyone here was stupid hot, but he was with Pepper, and she wasn’t here. Too bad.

He groped about in his pocket and took out a little disk. It was light as a feather and a grayish color. Tony looked at it for a moment as it lay in the palm of his hand, then he brought it up to his face and pressed it against his temple. It bleeped softly, and Tony heard a quiet whir. Then it was silent. It was a little recording’s device, for if something showed up. He would be able to look at the footage again later.

The fire died down and the sky turned a boring, dark grey again. They waited, all staring up at the sky. Nothing happened.

“Well that was disappointing,” Tony sighed. He turned back to Loki. “Got any more?”

“That sounds like you’re on drugs and Loki’s your pimp,” Clint said, still staring up at the sky. Natasha hit him with her elbow in his side, hard. “Ow, what?!” The archer exclaimed.

“What is this ‘pimp’ you are talking about?” Thor asked.

Tony patted him on his shoulder. “Steve will explain when you’re older, honey.”

“No, I will not. Tony, you do it.”

“I’m not gonna do it! You’re the adult here remember?”

“We’re all adults here!”

Loki rolled his eyes at Clint. “Of course you would know, _Little_ _Hawk_.”

Clint stuck his tongue out to the god. Little Hawk, what kinda nickname was that? A lame one. Clint wasn’t a Little Hawk, he was a Big Hawk, a Strong Hawk. He opened his mouth to sneer back when they were all interrupted.

A high-pitched whistling sound suddenly approached from the North. Like the howling of the wind as it blew along buildings, but more high-pitched and more focused. The team looked up. The whistle moved through the air at high speed. So, they _did_ have company.

Tony almost wanted to whoop because his plan had worked, but his curiosity prevented him from doing so, maybe he would scare it away when he did that. He didn’t know this thing made a sound like that, he obviously couldn’t have heard it the previous time he had ‘seen’ this thing, because he had been inside a room and far, far away from where it happened. But still, he hadn’t expected it to make some high-pitched sound.

Thor and Loki turned pale while the others just looked surprised and curious. The two gods shared a look of understanding. They knew that sound. They knew what made it and they knew what was coming. They were both shocked that it was here, but it made _so much_ sense now. It made sense how fast it was, that no one had seen it, the purple blast OF COURSE!

There was a moment of hope, in which the two gods made a small prayer the thing wouldn’t be heading towards them. But as the sound approached more, their hopes melted away.

Loki’s head whipped up in the direction the sound came from. Their shadows were now twice as long as themselves, the air was damp and cool, smelling faintly of pine trees. The sun dipped lower in the sky until the trees that surrounded them stood as black statues silhouetted against the darkening sky and soon they wouldn’t be able to distinguish the grey clouds from the dark night sky. But Loki saw it. He heard the whistle and a little black dot shot down at them, illuminated by the last rays of sunlight.

It couldn’t be…

It was…

“Night Fury!” Loki called out on the top of his lungs.

“Get down!” Thor turned and tackled both Bucky and Natasha out the way to the ground. Loki grabbed Clint and pulled the other down with him while Steve raised his shield and pulled Tony with him under it as they crouched to the ground.

KABOOM.

A big, purple streak of light hit Cap’s shield and blew both him and Tony away. _Norns!_ The red and blue shield had been a perfect target for the thing, _stupid_. Steve should really think about painting it black, or at least get rid of the white. The two landed a few meters further in the grass and Steve held his shield above the both of them in case there would be another blast.

The sound receded, leaving the ground scorched in its wake.

“Steve!” Bucky yelled, struggling to get up and rush to his friend. But Thor pinned the assassin back to the ground, not wanting to lose a friend to this monster. “Stay down,” he hissed, “If you get hit you will die, it might come back for another round.”

Loki was lying above Clint who didn’t really like it, being so close to the other. The god looked even paler than normal which worried the archer. Loki’s breathing was fast and shallow, as if he almost couldn’t breathe. One of his hands went to his throat and he rubbed the slight discoloring that was still there after all those weeks.

“Stay down, Barton,” he whispered, then gasping for breath. Clint saw Loki’s face twist into a grimace and as he looked at one of Loki’s hands he saw a green glow coming from the palm, barely visible. What was he doing? Maybe he was making them invisible, or at least that was what Clint hoped he did. Loki took another harsh breath.

What was up with this guy and hyperventilating anyway? This wasn’t the first time he did that. Maybe it had something to do with his time in… _that place_.

In the meanwhile, Steve was almost lying on top of Tony, both making themselves as small as possible to fit somewhat underneath Steve’s large dinner plate. He didn’t know about Steve, but Tony felt a tiny bit awkward as Captain America was hovering right above him. The soldier turned his face towards Tony, they were so close their noses almost touched. Tony could see himself reflected in those piercing, icy-glacier-blue eyes and he could count all the flaws this man didn’t have.

“Stay down,” Steve said, not even looking a little bit uncomfortable. The soldier turned his head to look at the sky, shifting his shield a bit to look along the edge.

“No problem,” Tony breathed.

The team stayed down, a bit anxious for the next attack. Thor was kneeling on the ground and held his hammer ready to throw. When Loki moved away, rubbing at his throat again, Clint grabbed his bow and sat next to Thor, an arrow resting on the string. Natasha rolled onto her back and held her guns out, aiming them at the air. They waited and staring up.

The night rolled over and they had to squint their eyes to see something. The bright blue sky they had traveled with on their way here had transformed into an ocean of blackness. Shimmering stars illuminated the moonless, jet black sky. The air was still and heavy, clouds covered half sky, and they waited. As they waited the sun lowered even further and the sky turned darker.

When it remained silent for about two tense minutes Steve, Tony and Natasha risked sitting up too, like Thor, Bucky, Loki and Clint had done before them.

“What the hell was that?!” Tony yelled, coming up from the ground.

“Sssshhh!” Thor and Loki hissed at the same time.

“Oh, I’m _sorry_ ,” Tony said on a sarcastic whisper-tone, “what the hell was that?!”

Thor looked up at the sky, his brows knitted together and his knuckles white from grasping his hammer. “A Night Fury,” he said.

Steve, Tony, Natasha, Clint and Bucky all had no idea what he was talking about and just waited in silence for him to explain. Thor didn’t explain, he just kept staring at the heavens with a dark look in his eyes. A crack of electricity lighted up on his hammer, the soft blue light illuminating Thor’s hand and part of his body. The sky didn’t darken though, it was still somewhat clear, no clouds packing together. He still said nothing; he only stood up.

Loki stepped in when he realized Thor wouldn’t elaborate.

“It’s a dragon. The Night Fury is considered to be so mysterious and so feared, that it is often called the ‘unholy offspring of lightning and death itself’. Night Furies are _very_ aggressive to any form of threat they find, whether Viking, animal or other dragon. It’s so mysterious because no one has ever seen a Night Fury and lived to tell the tale.”

“A dragon?” Tony asked, looking up at the sky too, “I thought dragons didn’t exist!”

There came a small, victorious ‘yes’ from Clint’s direction when Loki mentioned ‘dragon’ and the team raised an eyebrow in unison at the archer, who merely shrugged.

“They do not in Midgard,” Loki continued. “Not originally. Perhaps so now and then there has been a reporting of a dragon on this planet but dragons are not supposed to be here. They have their own Realm where they can live, and that is not here. I believe once a Scauldron had somehow traveled from his world to this one and hid in a big lake. A mortal named Robert had taken a picture of him back in 1934 and a massive hunt had started. What was it again, that they called the Scauldron? Thor?”

The God of Thunder threw his brother a glance and shrugged his shoulders. “Something stupid. Nessie or something.”

Loki snapped his fingers, winching a bit as the movement hurt surprisingly much, “Right! You called him Nessie, the monster of Loch Ness.”

Five jaws dropped.

“So, the monster of Loch Ness wasn’t a hoax?!” Tony called out.

“No,” Loki said simply, “they just made you believe it was.”

Tony opened his mouth to say something again when the next high-pitch whistle made them all freeze. It was coming back around.

“Get down!” Thor yelled again, and he reached out for Natasha. But unfortunately for him she’s had enough of that. She bounced to the side, away from Thor, and pushed him to the ground herself by grabbing his arm and twisting it down. Then she crouched down too next to him. Steve grabbed Tony and Bucky by the shoulder and pulled them down with him while Loki lowered to the ground as well.

The only one who didn’t move to the ground was Clint. He didn’t move at all, he just stared at the sky with his bow ready. He pulled back the tight string until the feathers tickled his cheek and the string almost touched his lips. He kept both eyes open, and just stared at the whistling thing approaching. He took a deep breath.

 _Focus_.

He watched the silhouette shoot through the sky and aimed after it. The art of archery wasn’t shooting where your target was, but where it was going to be. An archer cannot hit the bullseye if he doesn't know where the target is. But one must be patient and careful. One had to relax when one was shooting an arrow. He couldn’t be tense.

“Come on,” Clint whispered to himself, “Gimme something to shoot at, gimme something to shoot at.”

Clint didn’t let himself focus too long on the same spot but forced his eyes to search through the sky, and more down to the Earth, a little above the trees. Then he catched on a shadow, visibly blotting out the stars above him. The whistle followed it.

The thing fired at the trees, a purple ball shot down, and it took Clint a second to understand why it was firing at random; it was dark, and they were entirely silent. It didn’t know where they were and if it wanted to know by lighting up the area, it was forced to give away its own location, as it just did. The explosion illuminated it, showing a barely visible shadow as the flames grasped at the air.

Calmly and entirely in control, Clint shifted direction of his bow and let go. The arrow was pushed forward by the bow’s string and flew into the air with its own little whistle.

A second passed.

There was a loud roar and the whistling sound was interrupted. Again, a screech. It sounded distressed. The arrow had hit its target.

“Oh, I hit it!” Clint called out, jumping in the air, “YES! I HIT IT! Did anybody see that?”

He turned to the others with a big smile on his face and his hands in the air. This had to be his best achievement yet. Shooting a flying, black devil from the sky that fired huge purple blasts only with a bow and a single arrow. Clint took a moment to be proud of himself. The others looked at him with big eyes.

“Now let’s go get it!” he said, and he turned around, “The dragon has probably landed somewhere a little deeper in the forest, so I suggest we –”

“Watch out!”

Out of nowhere a big shadow launched itself at him. Clint just saw a flash of bright green eyes with pupils as slits before he felt a harsh push and landed in face-first in the dirt. He rolled to his back and saw the shadow snatch Bucky from the ground and lifting him right into the air. Bucky let out a long yell and dropped his gun in his surprise.

“BUCKY! NO!” Steve’s voice cried out and Clint saw him jump up to reach for his friend… but he missed.

   

  

Sharp, huge claws were pinching in his shoulders. Bucky felt like his stomach was dropping down as they shot up in the air so fast his eyes started to tear too. He couldn’t see well in the dark but what he could see became smaller and smaller incredibly fast. He heard a loud flapping and while he screamed he desperately tried holding on to the dragon’s paws. If this thing dropped him, he would be dead. He heard Steve yell but the wind blowing in his ears made it nearly impossible to hear anything else.

Feeling as though he was about to be sick as his stomach turned, Bucky prayed that he wouldn’t vomit while in the air and he hoped that either Tony in his Iron Man suit or Thor with his hammer would be able to get to him in time and bring him to safety. But every second that passed he was taken higher and higher into the air and the chance of that became more and more unlikely.

It was the strangest feeling. He suspected the dragon was flying vertical to the ground and because of the speed it almost felt like he was falling upside-down… if that made any sense.

The longer he was being pulled straight upwards the more his body was trying to slip into an unconscious state as he was entering a full state of panic. His eyes were threatening to close as he was losing all strength in his neck, all the while, Bucky was silently pleading in his thoughts not to faint. But it was hard as his head was being pushed down, he had the constant feeling of falling and the high altitude made him feel light-headed, not enough oxygen.

He didn’t like flying much. At his time with HYDRA he barely had to fly. They gave him cars and a motorcycle, that was enough. And before that he didn’t have real clear memories of flying. He remembered that for some missions in Europe they had to take a plane. But sitting inside a plane was a so much more different type of flying than dangling from a dragon’s paws.

Maybe it wasn’t so bad to faint, maybe it was for the better. He would rather be unconscious while this dragon was eating him alive than conscious. Though this dragon obviously couldn’t eat him in the air (he was waaaay to big and muscled for that), so they had to land somewhere. And when they landed Bucky could fight and run. He probably wouldn’t get far but he could always try. He did have a metal arm after all.

But to do that, he had to stay awake in the first place. Which was the trickiest part.

The wind blew harshly against his body, pressing against his chest and Bucky felt himself slipping away. His body gave in and he closed his eyes, as if the unconscious state would protect him. Well, at least it would make things less scary…

   

  

Tony grabbed the edges of his bracelet and pulled it over the back of his hand and his fingers, it turned into an Iron Man glove and Tony aimed it up at the sky. From the corner of his eye he saw Loki move his hands and fingers, a pained expression was plastered all over the god’s face as a green spark appeared on the tips of his fingers.

“Loki, I got this,” Tony said. The god gave him a glance but then nodded and lowered his hands with relief. Thor put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. 

The Mark XLIII Armor was equipped with missiles hidden in its forearm gauntlet, which would come in handy now. Tony balled his hand to a fist and held it up at the sky as if he was giving it a fist-bump. Then he fired, and the little thing shot up at the sky. It was automatic, so it would lock onto the moving dragon by itself. The engineer hoped it wouldn’t hit Barnes though.

There was a wail up there and a bright light, then a purple ball shot through the sky. None of the Avengers had a visual on the missile but it was unmistakable when the two exploded.

The sky was illuminated by the fire for a moment as the missile and the fireball met, and they saw a big black thing with a large wingspan and a long tail. The dragon roared loudly, and they saw one black shadow split in two. One of them twirled around in the sky before flying up and taking off in the dark once again.

For a second, for a split-second, Tony could have sworn he saw something else. A big, black shape. Lean and tall. But there was something odd about that shape in the second or two he saw it. Something he couldn’t quite place but knew was there. Relief hit when realized he had recorded it.

But, the other shadow kept falling straight down. Bucky. It had dropped Bucky.

"BUCKY! NO!" Steve yelled again. He ran at where Bucky would probably land and held out his arms as if he would try to catch his friend. Thor was faster though, he spun his hammer really fast and stretched his arm up to the sky. He was pulled off the ground and launched at Barnes, reaching him in less than three seconds. Bucky was awfully quiet in his fall and said or did nothing when Thor wrapped an arm around his chest to get him safely back to the ground.

They dropped back down and Thor landed with a loud thud, bending his knees a bit as he hit the ground. The dirt was cracked around him, but nobody paid attention to that. Bucky's chin dropped to his chest and his head lolled to the side as Thor moved, as if his neck muscles had decided that they'd been working too hard and it was time for a holiday. Steve rushed at Bucky with the speed of a Night Fury and with Thor's help they lowered him to the ground, putting him in a lying position.

"Buck? Hey, Buck, you okay? Wake up, Buck." Steve gently shook his friend's shoulders. But he didn't react. Bucky kept his eyes closed and didn't move. "Buck?" Steve tried again.

Tony knelt next to him. "Don't worry, Steve, I think he’s gonna be okay."

Steve looked back at him with a confused expression, so Tony explained.

"Look, the human body can only take a certain amount of pressure from the outside. When Barnes was snatched and dragged up faster than the speed of sound without any form of protection such as, for example, an Iron Man helmet, his body took a blow. He's lucky he's a super soldier because if he wasn't... well let's just say that wouldn't have end well,” Tony explained.

“Your brains are not locked in place in your head, they can move around a bit and with a sudden pull like that they could have crashed into his skull with such force he could have _died_. And I'm not even mentioning the damage fast movements can do to your organs. Flying at high speed is more complex than you think."

Steve looked at his friend even more worried. His brain could have crashed against his skull?

Bucky moved slowly, stretching out his fingers and his head rolled to the side.

"Oh look, he’s not dead," Tony joked. Then he saw Steve's eyebrows already moving down and he cleared his throat, quickly looking away.

Bucky's eyelids fluttered open and he looked up at the faces around him. Most of the team expected him to go nuts, jump up, pull a knife, yell and start hitting people but to their surprise none of that happened. Bucky just lay there, quietly.

"I really don't like flying," he said then, with a soft voice. Steve let out a breath and put his hand on Bucky's shoulder.

"That's okay, bud. You won't have to for a long time."

"Nah, just the ride back," Clint piped up. Bucky groaned, and Steve gave Clint the eyebrows of disappointment.

  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They met! I know this isn’t what you thought it’d be (please don't be mad), but I myself think this count like a meeting because they’re introduced to one another (sort of) and they are getting SO DAMN CLOSE to a face-to-face meeting. 
> 
> Next chapter is filled with action too. And the Midgardians will have a better understanding about dragons, AKA seeing one up close.


	15. Can You Hear The Whisper?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Anything else we know about it?” Wanda asked, looking between the two guys.
> 
> “Well, apparently it can shoot razor sharp spines from its body,” Bruce answered. He had observed it from behind the safe, strong window.
> 
> Wanda rolled her eyes at him, “And how's that gonna help us?”
> 
> “Well, it would help if we stayed away from those.”
> 
> “Or,” Pietro said, “Or we can get near them and use Wanda as a human shield! OW!”
> 
> Wanda smacked him against the back of his head. “That idea is worthless, we need another.”

“Give it back!”

“No, _you_ give it back!”

“I had it first!”

“No, you didn’t!”

A red haze like fog swirled around Wanda’s fingers as she gave her brother Pietro the little push she needed to snatch the TV remote out of his hands. They were fighting about what to see on the television. Wanda wanted to watch documentaries while Pietro rather watched detective series, crime investigations and things like that. And they just couldn’t think of something that would make them both happy so now the Maximoff Twins tried to take the TV remote from each other.

As soon as Wanda had grabbed the remote she changed the channel to her documentaries. Pietro tried to retrieve the little machine, but even super speed couldn’t go up against advanced magic. Wanda just let the remote fly in the air, high outside of Pietro’s reach. He couldn’t tickle his sister or distract her, because if she stopped using magic the remote would drop and if it was broken the TV was stuck on those stupid documentaries.

“Pietro, come on!” Wanda complained, “It is about the rainforest! Look at it!”

For a few seconds the boy twin turned his head towards the screen but then he decided documentaries were boring, so he went back to jumping up on the couch in an attempt to grab the remote. He bounced up and down, his arms clawing into the air, almost reaching, but just not far enough. In the meanwhile, Wanda snuggled comfortably on the couch in the pillows with one hand raised a bit and red fog swirling around it.

Pietro narrowed his eyes at that, she was just lazily lifting the remote in the air with one hand and she wasn’t even bothered by that! Documentaries were Wanda’s favorite because they were mostly peaceful. Yes, occasionally there was an animal being eaten by another animal, but she said that was always better than those people who killed other people for not even a good reason.

She loved to see the animals do their animal things. It was beautiful to see what kind of butterflies fluttered through the rainforest, the colorful parrots chirping and the majestic jaguars moving. She loved the beautiful images of the rainforests, deserts, mountains and just nature in general.

“Wanda, please! I want to see the Crime Scene Investigations! This is boring!” Pietro said, as he jumped again to reach for the remote.

“You have seen that aggressive murder stuff yesterday, now I want to watch my documentaries!”

He opened his mouth to speak, and then quickly shutting it as if thinking better of it. Pietro sighed in defeat and he fell down on the couch next to his sister. He pulled a silver-colored pillow with golden fringes from behind his sister’s back, earning himself a scowl, then hugged it and leaned back against the backrest.

She was right, he had seen his things yesterday already, so technically it was her turn. But he could never concentrate on those boring movies about plants and animals. So that fish said blub and jumped up from the water in a certain time of year, only to be grabbed and eaten by a brown bear, then what? It happened every year and it was all the same. Animal sleeps, animal hunts, animal eats, animal sleeps again, it was the same circle. At least in his series there was some variety.

He watched for about four minutes before he sighed loudly and slumped down, then he slowly slid off the couch, sighing dramatically again. Wanda threw him an annoyed look as he slid off the couch like some sort of worm. “If you want to watch your show, you can watch on the tablet, yes?”

“No,” Pietro answered, “The big screen is better.”

His sister rolled her eyes and looked back at the screen. They saw how a jaguar sneaked through the ferns next to a small river, going after its prey. It was low to the ground, eyes fixated on the capybaras somewhat away from him. As soon as it was noticed by the prey the cat stood as still as a statue. It stood so still Pietro honestly thought they had frozen the screen. But the water before it moved normally. When it was close enough the jaguar took a sprint and grabbed one of the capybaras, killing it almost immediately and dragging it away.

“And you find my crime investigation too aggressive?” Pietro asked, one eyebrow raised. Wanda rolled her eyes again.

“This animal kills because it is hungry. Your quote-unquote ‘perpetrators’ kill for stupid reasons. For things that is mostly their own fault. That is very different, yes? Now hush, I want to see this.”

Pietro blew out his cheeks and crossed his arms on his stomach over the pillow as he slumped on the couch again. They had been back from Sokovia for one day now. They got back yesterday morning after a long plane flight. Sam was probably still sleeping or resting; the mission had been hard on him. Though it was hard for anyone to keep up with the Maximoff twins. One was faster than the speed of light and the other had insane magic skills. Sam was just a dude with a ‘bird suit’, as many liked to call it, to piss Sam off.

On their mission they had saved some more people and helped Sokovia rebuild after the whole Sokovian incident. Pietro was a great helper, being able to build up things with speed of light, while Wanda was very handy to lift big, heavy things into the air. With Sam to supervise and help here and there, things were going fine.

Sam said he was sorry for not being there during the Ultron thing, but the twins said they had been on Ultron’s side for very long until they eventually joined the Avenger’s side, so they weren’t in the position to judge anyone.

One thing that was bothering almost everyone from the team, the one big question, where was Vision? They hadn’t seen him for quite a while which was worrying them. Not necessarily because they were afraid something bad would happen to him, but because they were afraid he would _turn_ into something bad. He was still brand new, still smelling like new plastic, so what if that weird stone in his head suddenly decided he was bad and wanted to destroy everything? Nobody was feeling like another war right now. Especially not again with something _they_ created.

And thereby, Wanda actually kinda liked Vision. Pietro was indifferent about him. He knew the dude was good and helped them, but at the other hand, he did have one of those stupidly powerful stones in his head. The exact same one that had granted the twins their powers. And he looked like a colorful toaster; the extra shiny, red edition. But he didn’t tell Wanda that last part. Because Wanda seemed to _really_ like him.

“Should I wake up the doctor?” Pietro asked then, casting a glance at the door.

Wanda raised her eyebrows at that. “If you want him to destroy the building and the city, then yes. Wake him up.”

Pietro gave Wanda a playful push and in a blue flash he was at the door of the living room. The silver-gold pillow falling to the floor in mid-run, lying now uselessly on the soft brown, laminate flooring. “They have slept long enough, yes? I can wake them up now, yes?”

“Why would you want that? Let them sleep.”

Pietro pouted, “but I am bored! I want the doctor to do cool experiments with the colored fluids in the tubes and the bubbling, you know?”

A breathy chuckle came from the couch and in a blue streak Pietro stood next to her again. “What? I like it. It is interesting!”

His sister kept her eyes pointed at the TV screen and nodded. Pietro tapped his foot on the ground and swung his arms back and forth. He was restless. He wanted to _do_ something. At this point, he would even run after a stick if someone offered to throw it. Playing with Sam was fun, Sam could fly and had no problem with throwing things at the kid.

Certain Avengers were fun to do certain things with.

Steve mostly offered to play a board game or something calm like that. It was nice if one wanted to relax, but Pietro was energetic. Bucky was mostly quiet in everything, but you could have a nice spar with him. Thor was a bit wild in what he did, a bit overenthusiastic sometimes, but still loads of fun. Natasha was willing to throw sticks anytime, she would pretty much do everything if you asked her nicely, same with Clint.

Loki was fun to practice with too, he had super cool magic tricks Pietro was just enchanted with. They were not like his sister’s, they were different, but still somewhat the same. Loki was staying part-time at the Avengers Head Quarters, mostly hanging out with Stark, they seemed to be good friends. Not that Pietro knew anything about their past, he had just heard stories. There was only one thing though, Pietro once caught him having some sort of half panic attack, but he got shooed away by Tony before he could ask what was wrong. He had heard some little things about what had happened to the Trickster god. Torture. They didn’t tell him much and they also told him not to ask Loki about it. He understood.

Bruce was good in calm board games too, although it was no fun to play chess with him because he always won. Tony could be fun to play with, but he rarely had time. Then there was Fury, but it was super rare that he was here. He was kinda scary, Pietro didn’t have enough courage to ask him what he could do to pass time. That man was radiating so much authority, it was almost overwhelming.

So, the boy Maximoff just stood at his sister’s side in a flash again to ask her what to do, because maybe waking up Sam and doctor Bruce wasn’t such a good idea, when _it_ happened.

The ground trembled slightly, just slightly. Like the kind of tremble you weren’t sure of whether it was the ground or just a shiver that crawled over your skin because you were cold. But the thing was, they both felt it. 

“Did you feel that?” Wanda asked, a little anxious. She stood up, the remote fell on the couch, luckily not broken, but neither of the twins paid attention to it. She looked down at her feet and the ground. Pietro stood at her side and knelt, his hand flat on the ground.

“I felt it,” he answered. He looked up at her, “Earthquake?”

Wanda placed one foot before the other, bending her knees slightly as she stretched out her hand with the palm down, her fingers moving up and down a bit. “It didn’t feel like one. And there are not supposed to be Earthquakes here.”

“Maybe it was an animal?” Pietro suggested.

“An animal? Like a sixty feet long mole or something?”

The speedster looked a bit hurt at the sarcasm, but shrugged. He fidgeted with the bottom of his shirt and looked around a bit nervous. After Sokovia, both were on edge if it had to do with moving earth. They never wanted to be lifted in the air on a large piece of land like a comet again. That had been horrible.

“I am going to look if doctor Bruce is awake yet, maybe he knows more,” Pietro said, then he sped off.

Wanda looked around the living room. Then her eyes fell on the glass doors leading to the backyard. The Avengers Head Quarters were on a large piece of land with a forest around them. It was a great place to train, walk or just sit outside. It was private and remote, very calming too. She slipped through a small opening through the glass sliding doors and stepped onto the grass. She didn’t close the door behind her so Pietro would know she had gone outside.

Stark liked to keep the grass mowed; neat and even, but the rest (except for Steve, of course) didn’t really pay much attention to that. They ran across it, throwing Frisbees at each other, playing tag or whatnot. Whatever they wanted.

The grass was as neat as always, some little flowers and weeds growing through, but not much more. Nothing out of the ordinary. No sign of an animal or and cracks in the earth. No robots or monsters to be seen either. Maybe it was nothing. Wanda just wanted to go back inside when she felt it again.

The ground rumbled and shook, this weird tremble moving through it and Wanda had to catch her footing again to prevent herself from falling. This wasn’t like an Earthquake, it was too locally, as if it was only happening closely to Avengers Head Quarters. Closely _underneath_ Avengers Head Quarters. It didn’t do what normal earthquakes did. And it didn’t quite _feel_ like one.

 _Please not again. Not again a comet, please_. She was so done with that.

Then she _heard_ it.

She heard a hushed, rumbling sound. It was an eerie noise, like hundreds of people whispering with voices like gravel. She took a step back, looking at the ground around her, trying to pinpoint where it came from. Her fingers flexed, magic swirling around them like red fog. But what point did magic have when she had no target? When there was nothing to aim at?

“Pietro?” she asked. She got no answer. Her brother wasn’t there yet.

She stepped back again, her eyes darting from side to side. The ground shook harder as the whispering sound got louder. What was that odd sound? It was giving her the willies. What was making that sound? She wasn’t sure if she even wanted to find out. She stepped back even more, her eyes glancing at the building behind her. Should she run back? Get help? Getting help in a situation like this seemed the best option. Because if normal people were facing a huge threat, what did they do? They called the Avengers.

But what if it was nothing? She didn’t want the others to think she couldn’t handle some whispering thing. Maybe it was a prank, maybe it was one of Tony’s machines that was trying to scare her, it wouldn’t be the first time to happen. Stark had once spooked them all with this machine that moved through the compound like a ghost and crept up on them from behind, then blasting a siren at volume hundred. The reactions had been somewhat funny if one thought about it later.

Thor had taken a swing at it with his hammer. Steve had literally thrown his cup of coffee against the ceiling in some spooked up, jerking movement, Bucky had hit it with his metal fist, Pietro had made a dead run against the wall at full speed and so on.

So probably, this was some stupid prank of Stark. _Ha ha_ , very mature.

“Okay, you got me, Stark,” Wanda said, speaking loudly to sound clear over the whispering. “Now stop it, you had your fun.”

But no one answered. A cold stone plunged down in her stomach when she realized Stark wasn’t even back from his mission. Friday would have said something, Steve would be back too, Clint would have asked her how she was doing after her own mission. She would at least see some of the Avengers wonder around the Compound. But no. No one was there. No Avengers.

The whispering sound got so loud she wanted to press her hands against her ears to block it out. What in the world was making that sound?

The earth rumbled again, and the ground seemed to collapse before her feet. Big clods of dirt flew up into the air together with stones and rocks. She had to conjure a shield of magic above her head to keep them from crashing into her. From the hole that had appeared, with a loud grumbling roar, came something. Something _big_.

It looked like some sort of giant gulper eel she had once seen in a documentary and still had scary dreams of. It had no legs, only spikes. So. Many. Spikes. It had spikes on its chin, behind its eyes, on its neck and on its tail. Even its wings were spike-y along the edges. Its whole body was like a snake’s body, long and thin and it was making a constant, circular motion. As it raised up in the air, its huge, round head moved left and right.

Wanda couldn’t move, she couldn’t look away of whatever was before her, her magic shield disappeared as her focus was gone. The thing looked back at her, his bulging, pupil-less, white eyes staring her down. It had a spiny face and at least six rows of rotating teeth in its mouth. Two of its teeth at the upper side of its mouth in the front row were way longer than the others, like two giant canines.

It opened its mouth widely and let out a short, roaring hiss. Wanda’s mouth opened; she wanted to let out a scream, but no sound came out. It was as if her throat was pinched shut. The thing roared again and dropped its jaw far down the way some snakes did when they ate a prey animal. A greenish gas gathered in the back of its throat and Wanda had no idea what it meant, or what it was going to do.

Just in time, she could raise her hands before her head and create another shield to block the hot fire it was shooting at her. The fire of took the form of a succession of rings encircling a thin stream of fire. It blasted around the edges of her shield, even burning the grass around her. Now she did scream, she screamed like hell.

There was a fast streak of blue and a second later the thing was hit by a chair that looked suspiciously much like the type of chairs they had at the dinner table inside Avengers HQ. The thing stopped firing and hissed angrily at Pietro, who had appeared beside his sister.

“You are alright?” He asked, worried about her.

Wanda nodded shortly. They heard a soft, zooming sound and Sam in his Falcon suit flew towards them. He was flying right at the snake-worm thing when it turned around to look at Sam, its mouth wide open and roaring loudly. They heard a _‘what the actual fuck shit!’_ coming from Sam before he immediately changed directions and flew in a large circle around the thing, landing next to the twins.

He was just opening his mouth to say something when the dragon let out an ear-piercing scream at them, like the sound in between a roar and a hiss. It looked at the three people and narrowed its bulging, white eyes. God, that thing didn’t have pupils, it was so scary. Because it didn’t have those they had no idea what it was looking at. Its eyes were just white. Round, white balls with thin, red veins through them.

“Eh, I don’t like the way its eyeballing me,” Sam said.

“Don’t worry, it is not just you,” Pietro said back.

Sam rolled his eyes. “Thanks, big relief.”

It roared loudly, flapping his wings faster before it dove down into the earth, somehow digging a new hole at incredible speed. Again, clods of dirt and big stones flew around. Its tail followed the head, spinning around in a circular motion and making a cracking whip noise as it moved. A second later the thing was gone.

“What. Was. That,” Sam breathed with wide eyes.

Bruce came running at them from the building. His eyes were wide and his body trembling. He had watched the whole thing through the window. He bended forwards, leaning with his hands on his knees for a moment to catch his breath.

“Whatever it was,” Pietro answered as stood at the side of the hole in a second, “It is not happy we are here.”

“Where did it go?” Bruce asked, already panicking before he had even caught his breath. “Why is it here? What’s it gonna do to us? Why isn’t anyone slapping me to snap me out of it?!”

“Because we’re scared too, Bruce,” Sam answered.

Bruce wanted to say something again but the ground trembled, shaking even more violent than before. With a roar the dragon emerged from the ground again. Wanda used her magic to create a barrier to shield the incomplete Avengers team from the dirt and stones flying around. The thing hissed, its head moving to the sides fast if it was looking around. It roared, and its body circled around fast as it flew further into the air.

“It looks angry,” Pietro said, his accent sounding through the words more than ever.

Bruce looked at the thing, shook his head and with a magic shield of Wanda around him he rushed back at the Head Quarters. This thing was big, but it was best if they didn’t involve the _Big Guy_ in it. That would be a disaster.

“Alright, let’s run this thing out of here!” Sam said, and he spread his wings. For just a short moment, the Thing seemed to cool down, staring into Sam’s direction, its mouth almost fully closed. As if it was distracted by the wings.

But when Sam jumped off the ground and flew up, the Thing narrowed its eyes, hissing at the Falcon as they both hovered in the air. Sam approached more but the Thing wasn’t feeling like company right now. Its body moved away from Sam, only to slash back like a whip, long spines shooting from its body at the Falcon. He could just dodge them by dropping down, almost scraping his wings along the ground because he couldn’t pull up fast enough.

Wanda looked at the many stones scattered around the field and an idea popped up in her head. She used her magic to lift them into the air and then threw them all at once at the Thing. It roared as they hit the intended target. Its look shifted back to Wanda and it looked furious. Then it got hit by the same chair again, right against its head. A streak of blue passed it and circled back to Wanda, helping her carefully step back to the building.

The Thing hissed and dove down into the earth, creating yet another hole in the field like some sort of snake-mole. Or a worm. Tony was not going to be happy about the destroyed field.

“Why does it keep doing that? We are up here, yes? Not down there, yes?” Pietro asked, as he stood next to his sister again. Bruce stood halfway through the gap between the glass door and the wall.

“Maybe to hunt,” Sam said, “Maybe because it’s cooler, maybe to look for water…”

“Hunting sounds logically. Did you see that thing’s teeth?” Wanda asked.

Pietro and Sam both looked at her. “Of course we saw its teeth! They were kinda hard to miss!”

Wanda made an irritated gesture at Sam. “It can probably chew through dirt, rocks and tree roots with those teeth. He hunts from underground because it gives him an advantage. We cannot shoot at what we cannot see, and even if we knew where it was we couldn’t hit it anyway because it is underground.”

Pietro chuckled. “Wanda. Never in the flippity flap world am I going down one of its holes.”

“I do not ask you to. I am just saying what is happening.”

There wasn’t much they could say about her argumentation, since it made sense.  

“Anything else we know about it?” Wanda asked, looking between the two guys.

“Well, apparently it can shoot razor sharp spines from its body,” Bruce answered. He had observed it from behind the safe, strong window.

Wanda rolled her eyes at him, “And how's that gonna help us?”

“Well, it would help if we stayed away from those.”

“Or,” Pietro said, “Or we can get near them and use Wanda as a human shield! OW!”

Wanda smacked him against the back of his head. “That idea is worthless, we need another.”

“We should call the Avengers,” Pietro suggested.

“ _We_ are the Avengers!” Wanda and Sam said at the same time.

“Yes, but like, the more Avenger Avengers,” Pietro explained, “We have a fast boy, a weird girl and a flying boy. Those three, against a huge killer snake-mole-worm that can fly and digs holes at an insane speed. No thank you. Was there something about that in one of your documentaries, Wanda?”

The twins sent each other dirty looks but Sam stepped in before words could be spoken. “Let’s just chase it away from here. But watch out. That thing has fire, razor sharp teeth and can shoot those weird spines of its body. We don’t want to get hit. Wanda, you can make shields, Pietro, you’re fast, you can run. And I will distract it. Just throw some more chairs at its head. Bruce.” They looked at the doctor, still standing halfway through the gap, “We don’t need the Hulk, so just… just sit tight. We don’t know how to defeat it, so the best we can do is chase it away or stop it for now.”

The twins nodded, but Pietro raised his hand. “Yes, eh, how are we going to get it out of the ground?”

They didn’t have to think about that for long. Behind them, the dirt flew up and the snake thing flew out again. It roared and hissed, then it spewed fire at them. Wanda made her magic blockade as Pietro sprinted away to get some more chairs. Sam flared his wings and flew up into the air. “Please don’t let its spines hit me!” he yelled, and Wanda nodded.

She flung pieces of dirt and stones up at the thing and it hissed, turning towards her and unhinging his jaw. She knew what was coming as she saw the green gas gather in his throat. Fire. Because she knew what was coming she had already thrown up a shield of magic to block it. But it never came as the thing was hit with a chair against its head. It screeched and shook its head. A second chair hit the target and it dove under again.

“We are scaring it away now, yes?” Pietro asked from his position. Next to him stood about eight chairs, ready to be thrown.

Wanda shrugged and looked at Sam who was circling above the holes like a bird of prey. Pietro breathed in deeply. They could do this, they were the Avengers. They were awesome. They were not scared. They had to concentrate. The only thing he was thinking about was what to name that Thing. They couldn’t just call it ‘a Thing’. It was like a flying worm-mole-snake. So, a flying Woke? Nah. Maybe a Morke? He would think about this later.

The earth rumbled, and the whispering rose again; the only sign the Morke was attacking. It burst up from the ground to attack, but now they were ready. Wanda created shields and threw dirt and rocks, Pietro threw chairs and ran around to confuse it while Sam attacked it from the air. The Falcon fired small missiles at it and pulled up again. That would do it.

But it did not. The Thing raised its wing and the missiles exploded against it. But more than angering it they did nothing. What the hell? Sam had to dive down again to dodge the spines it sent back. Wanda yelled an apology and threw one of Pietro’s chairs at its head with her hex.

The Morke then did a new trick. It stretched itself out up into the sky and started spinning like a ballerina. Spines were shot from all parts of its body in all directions, nearly hitting the three Avengers if it wasn’t for Wanda. Pietro glanced at the window and saw Bruce was desperately trying to call someone. The other Avengers probably didn’t pick up. Great. So they were hunting down some machine while the rest was being attacked by a flying, spikey snake with a thousand teeth. Just great.

Pietro was slowly beginning to understand how the Morke worked. He didn’t know what it thought or why, but he began to see patterns. When it unhinged its jaw and this weird, greenish gas appeared in the back of its throat it was going to shoot rings of fire, when it brought its tail back far it was going to shoot spines and when it flapped its wings harder and arched its body it was going to dive into the ground. Okay. Now he knew this he had to plan an attack.

Maybe he could run around it so fast he created a whirlwind and – no, that would never work. Maybe if he ran against it with full speed he could – it had spines all over, not a good idea. Maybe if he –

“Wanda!” he yelled, as the dragon brought back its snake-like body. He raced at his sister to snatch her away before the monster would shoot its spines. But it didn’t shoot his spines at all. The Thing just flicked its whole tail at them, something Pietro hadn’t counted on, so he was taken by surprise. He could get Wanda out of the way fast enough, but he wasn’t fast enough to safe himself.

The dragon whipped its tail against him and in shock Pietro felt a familiar burning agony course through his abdomen. Only now he was thrown back by the force. When he had been hit by bullets he had just fallen to the ground, this was something else. Something even more painful. He felt the sharp spines tear through his skin as if it were nothing. A split-second later his back collided with the wall of the Avengers Head Quarter. He heard and felt something snap and hoped it wasn’t his rib. Or any other bone.

There was a concrete path along the sides of the Head Quarters so if it had rained and one had to go outside one didn’t have to walk through the mud. Now Pietro saw that concrete rush up to meet his face as he smacked down. He tried to hold out his hands to catch himself but hadn’t estimated the distance well enough, so one hand just scraped along the hard path and the other was crushed underneath the weight of his body, his wrist bent in an impossible, most painful angle and he almost passed out immediately.

He looked up to saw his other hand bleed. He swallowed thickly and pulled his arm back to his body. He used the elbow of his bleeding hand to push himself up a bit, his abdomen burned so much his vision became wholly black for a moment. But still he managed to pull his other hand from underneath him. He couldn’t move his fingers, but as he felt the pain coming from his wrist he didn’t even want to. He shook his head softly in an attempt to make the colorful spots go away and turned his head back to the fight.

He looked right into the enormous mouth of the Morke. He felt his stomach drop and his insides turned cold.

  

He was so scared. He knew it was dumb to be scared, but he couldn't help it.

He was ashen, his lips almost blue even though it wasn’t cold. His brain had shut down. He was clammy and there was the glisten of a cold sweat. Thoughts about the teeth impaling his body, tearing his arms and legs off and chewing on his head, flew around his mind. It was so close. He thought about that thing getting to Wanda, to his sister.

Had they gone through all this shit just to be devoured by some flying worm? A huge, deadly flying worm though. With too many teeth to be legal. It could kill them in an instant if they just let their guard down for a second. He didn’t want Wanda to go, he didn’t want to go himself either. Things had changed so much, so _fast_ , for him and Wanda, he worried that he wouldn't be able to control the ending of their story.

Things could happen in a blur. He almost died back then with the fight in Sokovia. He remembered running, jumping and an excruciating, fiery pain in his body. He remembered dropping down to the ground, the crying of a child, the zooming of robots and the yelling of persons. He remembered the world becoming a blur and everything numbing.

He was faster than any being out there. Fast as light travelled. There was no one faster than him. But though his legs moved fast his brain couldn’t think faster. He had been fast enough to stop the bullets from hitting Clint and the child, but he had been too slow to save himself. He was so fast, but still too slow.

He remembered waking up in a Hospital, Wanda at his side and the world saved. 

He could have been killed then, Wanda could have been killed then. They both weren’t. Now that thing was attacking and he realized how fast a life could be over. How fast it could end. Too fast. He could lose Wanda in the blink of an eye. He could die himself and never even see it coming. Then the last thing he would have said to his sister was an argument about the TV remote. His adrenaline surged so fast he almost vomited, he could taste the saliva thickening his mouth to a rancid paste. He knew that at some point he would have to move. But he couldn’t.

He wasn’t fast.

He was frozen.

What was the point of being fast when speed was what everyone feared? Nothing was good if it was fast. He could lose Wanda fast, he could lose his new family fast. He could lose the world fast. He could die fast. This worm could eat him fast. It could get to Wanda fast.

He vaguely realized panic was settling in. It was a discomfort in his chest, a feeling in his brain like excess caffeine... then it set in deeper. He felt the urge to run, escape, hide. It was no different than when he was a child and he kept waiting for the bomb to explode, waiting for the bomb to kill him and his sister.

It was no different from the moments he was strapped to the table and the professors did their experiments. He remembered the panic that came up, this felt the same. He knew the things they were pumping into his body could kill them. Now he looked back it seemed like it all had gone so fast. His parents had died in one fast explosion, he could have gotten the same fate, but he didn’t. Instead he went looking for revenge in a fast decision.

He became fast, but he wasn’t fast enough.

His eyesight blurred, but not only because tears were welling up. The many rotating teeth became a streak of yellow-white, the hissing became numb and distance as if it was coming from behind meters thick walls. He was sucking air so rapidly into his body the oxygen didn’t even reach his lungs and he felt himself become dizzy. His fingers tingled and so did his toes.

Everything became fuzzy; then he saw nothing at all. His consciousness was floating through an empty space filled with a thick static. Throughout the inky space his rapid heartbeats pounded loudly, echoing in his ears, alongside fading pleas for help, unheard by anyone. Fast, it went so fast. If this thing just came closer an inch he would die. Fast. A soft whimper escaped his lips before his arms gave up; his body dropped back to the ground together with his head and he clocked out.

   

He snapped back into consciousness rather fast again, he couldn’t have been out for more than a minute. His eyelids fluttered, and the shape of a person moved into his vision. The huge thing was gone, and so were its teeth. His vision was still blurry, and the edges were black, but at least that thing was gone.

“Pietro!” his sister’s voice called out through the void.

But he still couldn’t get up. He had no idea what had happened, why it didn’t kill him. Probably Wanda. Wanda saved him, thank her. Thank God. He tried to suck in a deeper breath, but a groan of agony escaped his lips as he did and the black spots grew bigger. More things moved into his vision and the black spots weren’t the only things that were growing. He was getting more scared.

His heart was pounding, he couldn’t breathe, he felt like he was dying. His vision wouldn’t clear and he kept seeing these weird shapes of people, but he couldn’t figure out who was who. They were just blurs. Just unclear blurs. Just blurs. They were talking but he didn’t understand. His head throbbed and he couldn’t breathe, but at the same time he knew he was breathing too fast.

His palms were sweaty and the adrenaline coursing through his system was shutting down his ability to think logically. His body wanted to run, run as fast as he could, but instead he stayed right where he was, he couldn’t move.

He couldn’t move.

   

* * *

 

Clint hummed a bit along the way back home. Home meaning the Avengers Head Quarters. He occasionally glanced back into the plane to keep an eye out for everyone cause God he sometimes felt like a babysitter. Either he was a babysitter, or everyone thought he needed one, there was no in-between. Sometimes he was the one looking out for everyone and the other moment he was kicked out the Zoo for trying to pet the parrots. Normally, it was mostly Steve who was the papa bear, making sure everything happened, that the rooms were cleaned and the laundry done.

Tony was staring at the screen of his StarkPad, he wanted to look up as much about dragons as he could even though Natasha kept saying Dungeons and Dragons was probably not the site to look on for that kind of information. And when Natasha looked on her own phone, Tony watched back his recordings. Most was garbage. He heard some high whistles, a loud BOOM, yelling of the team, things like that. He may could work something out with the audio, the images were shit. It was too shaky, and not at all pointed at the dragon. Plus, it was way too dark to see anything.

Only in the last seconds, he saw something. Right after the moment it shot back at the missile and dropped Bucky. A big, black shape. Lean and tall. But there was something odd about that shape in the second or two he saw it. He played it again, slowly it way down. He saw the black shape move. Four paws, two wings, a tail, a head, and… What was that?

He tried sharpening the image, but didn’t really succeed. It was still blurry and vague. But he thought he saw something odd. Something that wasn’t supposed to be there. Some tall shape on top of the dragon. A second head? No, too big.

In the meanwhile of Tony looking at his screen with squinted eyes, Loki was being helped by Bruce with the hands thing. They already looked better, but they were still burned, and Loki wouldn't be able to do complex magic tricks for a few more days. His hands really couldn’t catch a break, first the acid and when they were finally healed from that a spell blew up. So that meant no dragon hunting for them any time soon.

Thor was, well, supervising Bruce and Loki. He still felt guilty that he was the one to cause the injury. Loki kept saying it was fine, it was an accident and that it could happen to anyone, which Clint thought to be nice of him. Considerate even. Maybe Loki wasn’t _such_ a big bad guy after all. They would probably dislike one another for a while longer, but Clint had the feeling they would get there. Eventually.

Then last there were Bucky and Steve, which was a complete drama. Clint didn't know exactly what they were doing but Bucky and Steve had their hands placed flat onto each other and they were looking each other in the eye as Steve was whispering things, mostly things as ‘breathe’ and ‘it’s alright’. Bucky was only quiet. Probably a comforting thing.

It looked a bit like ‘Grounding’, Clint did know that technique. Natasha helped him with it sometimes. It was all about breathing; breathing in and out. Then you had to name five things you see, four things you feel, three things you hear, two things you smell and one thing you taste. Maybe he should tell Steve about it, perhaps Bucky would react really positive to it!

Clint stretched his legs out a bit. Almost home… he was happy he could see Thundersnow again, he has missed that bird in the little time they were away. Maybe he could learn the bird to detect dragons or something. New tricks were always welcome. He was also happy he could see Wanda and Pietro again, he liked those two teens. They were like the kids Clint never had. There were many times he’d wanted to settle down, start a family, maybe own a farm, but he never did. He just never found the right person.

He loved his new family, and that was enough for him. And besides, with his current lifestyle of fighting crime, sleeping, drinking coffee and eating pizza he wasn’t exactly relationship material. Yeah, he could be a fun guy to be around, but he was quite a handful; always doing the things people told him not to do, and being irresponsible half of the time. He’d never longed for children, he could never picture himself with them. Especially babies, he had no idea what to do around those. But now he had Wanda and Pietro. Yeah, they were practically adults, but still. Clint liked spending time with them.

Passing green tree tops, Clint knew they were coming close. They should be able to see the Head Quarters from here! Clint looked out the front window and lazily steered the plane into a small turn as they approached the HQ. It was always nice to see; the colors and architecture of the Avengers HQ building coming into vision from up in the air, with the landscape around it and –

"WHAT THE HOLY HELL?!" Clint screeched.

Something big and snake-y shot up along the plane, bumping against the side, making the plane spin uncontrollably and off course. Bucky immediately jumped forward into Steve, wrapping his arms tightly around the Captain's neck. Tony let out a not very manly scream and almost fell out of his chair, weren’t it for Natasha’s quick reflexes, his StarkPad went skidding across the floor. Loki and Thor had to grab Bruce to prevent him from being thrown forward.

Clint threw over the steering wheel and hit the brakes. The plane spun a few more times before it finally came to a sloppy halt in mid-air, the motor zooming loudly and everyone inside slightly shaking. Hearts were beating fast.

Tony rushed over to Clint. "What the hell was that?!" He yelled, as if it was Clint's fault.

"Something crashed into the plane, it's not my fault!" Clint yelled back.

Again, something bumped against them, now to the underside of the plane. The plane was thrown up, almost delivering the people inside a whiplash. A huge, greenish colored head from which at least half was teeth appeared before the windshield.

It had huge, bulging, white, pupil-less eyes and it looked angry. It opened its mouth and roared. Green gas gathered in his throat but before it could shoot a man in a bird suit raced at them and kicked the thing away from them, hitting a place without sharp spines. It wanted to attack again but suddenly a chair surrounded by vague, red fog was thrown right into its face and it decided to retreat. The Avengers saw it dive down and disappear in a hole in the ground.

"Sam!" Clint and Tony yelled in unison. The man grinned at them shortly before his look turned serious again and he motioned for them to land. Tony had to take the wheel to make sure they didn't land inside one of the huge holes on the grass field. "My lawn," Tony whined. Natasha shot him a glare.

The second the plane stood on solid ground Sam threw open the doors and stepped halfway inside.

"I see you got a little vermin prob-" Tony was immediately cut off by Sam. The man was looking at the archer, his face twisted into something distressed.

"Clint, you have to come, _now_. It’s Pietro!"

Clint didn't hesitate a second. He clicked the button of the buckle to open it, jumped off the chair and ran after Sam. The two sprinted across the lawn, their shoes flattening the grass Tony had worked so long on. From a distance Clint could see Wanda sitting on her knees on the ground, her shoulders shaking as she was softly speaking to Pietro. The archer saw the kid was lying on the ground, curled in a little ball and hiding his face with his arm. The hand was bleeding. His other arm lay on the ground. Clint ran a bit faster, surpassing Sam.

He practically threw himself down next to the speedster, who was clearly hurt. A red spot was expanding on his shirt and one of his wrists was turned into a position it was NOT supposed to be able to be turned to in the first place. Okay, Pietro was hurt. Probably by that thing that had bumped against the side of their plane. Wanda’s eyes were filled with tears, terrified to see her brother in this position again.

“Kid, hey kid,” Clint tried, voice soft. He gently rubbed up and down Pietro’s good arm but didn’t get a single reaction. He carefully removed the kid’s arm from his face, he still got no response. Not good. He saw Pietro’s lips turn a darker shade of blue and the kid’s eyes were wide open. Also, not good. He wanted to help Pietro up but the kid suddenly trashed both his arms, letting out a stifled yell and pressing himself against the ground, his eyes now squeezed shut.

Clint didn’t waste any more time. Pietro didn’t want to get up, he knew that, but right now the kid didn’t have much of a choice. He rolled the kid onto his back and with a swift movement he wound one arm underneath the kid’s knees and another underneath his shoulders, then lifted him up in the air. Steve stepped forward to help, but Clint said he was good. Pietro’s jaw set, and he already started squirming in discomfort.

“It’s okay, it’s me, it’s Clint. It’s just Clint,” Clint said as he carried Pietro into the building. Wanda followed him, almost staying shoulder to shoulder with him. The adult made sure the kid’s head wouldn’t fall backwards, bending the neck in an awkward angle. Instead he shifted the arm underneath Pietro’s shoulder up a bit, so his head would fall against his shoulder and not hang down.

This was all just _SOOO_ great, it was _perfect_. First they go out to find some aircraft, then it turned out to be a dragon, then they almost died, then it grabbed Bucky but ‘lucky’ for them it dropped him in mid-flight, then they finally got back and they see this huge worm dragon emerge from the ground, trying to kill their teammates, and when they finally chased that thing away Pietro was hit and he was having some sort of blackout slash panic attack. The red spot on Pietro’s shirt made Clint almost freak out himself.

“We have to get him to the infirmary,” Clint ordered, already making his way there.

Tony was already calling up Doctor Helen Cho, telling her this was an emergency and that she had to come over to Avengers Head Quarters immediately. They brought the boy twin to the infirmary and Clint laid him down on one of the tables. There was always someone present, Tony had made sure of that. The currently present doctors placed an oxygen mask over Pietro’s mouth and nose and another started cutting open his shirt. Clint almost threw up when he saw the awful, deep cut wounds.

Most of the Avengers team stayed outside in case that thing came back. Loki was one of them and so was Thor. If that thing dared to show its ugly head again Thor would make sure he would smash it with his hammer. Loki was mostly thinking about what it could be, what type of dragon. Bruce wanted to have Loki in the infirmary too because of his hands but Loki politely declined. Tony then began urging he _should_. Again, Loki said no.

It was all such a big mess. Pietro was hurt and being treated, Loki was hurt but didn’t want it treated, Bucky was in no state to fight as he was still shaken up from his horrible flight, Bruce couldn’t help because he was almost Hulking out (which they didn’t want to happen) and Clint and Wanda were with Pietro.

That left… Natasha, Steve, Tony, Thor and Sam to fight. Colonel Rhodes wasn’t here, as he was a busy man and was in political arguments about the Avengers and he was still busy with finding out what that Bogey was. Tony had to keep in mind to tell him that they knew what it was now.

Tony’s Iron Man suit was ready and Tony was wearing it, his repulsors ready to fire at whatever would emerge from the ground. Sam had his wings out, Thor his hammer up, Steve his shield raised and Natasha her guns out.

Nothing.

It was silent, the ground was still and nothing happened.

“Is it gone?” Natasha asked, frowning at Sam.

The Falcon folded his wings back in and straightened his back. “I don’t understand. It was here a minute ago! That thing wouldn’t back up, it kept attacking and attacking!”

“Maybe it became scared when we turned up,” Steve suggested, though he did not lower his shield. He turned a bit and shifted his attention to Loki.

“Loki, do you know what it is?”

The trickster god was plucking a bit at his sleeves, his eyes cast down as he thought deeply. Big dragon, green, giant mouth filled with rotating teeth, lots of spines and a slender, snake-like build. It didn’t fly high into the sky and could dig holes incredibly fast. It hunted from under the ground, so that meant it didn’t like to be above the ground.

“Judging from his looks and the way he eats through dirt and stones like it’s pudding I would say it is a Boulder Class dragon. I think-”

“How-wow, wait,” Steve interrupted, “These things have different classes?”

Loki nodded. “Yes, they have. It is complicated, and thus will take a while to explain. Do we have the time?”

Tony had flown up in his suit and was looking down one of the holes. He had his arm pointed down, his hand balled in a fist. A little machine was scanning the ground.

“Do not go in there, Anthony. Dragons are usually very territorial. Especially dragons like this,” Loki warned.

“Would someone like to explain to me what the hell that thing is?!” Sam called out then.

    

* * *

  

“Let’s start at the beginning,” Loki said, pulling a chair back to sit at the long table. They were in the diner room of Avengers HQ; all the present Avengers were there minus Pietro. Even Wanda and Clint, because this was something everyone needed to hear. Though it had taken a lot of effort to tear the two away from the wounded twin. “I don't suppose you know who started it all, do you?”

“I thought it has something to do with Bork the Bold,” Thor said, leaning with his chin on his hand and his elbow on the table.

Loki nodded again, “Glad to hear you remembered something from our classes. Bork the Bold. But before he was bold, he was known as Bork the Very, Very Unfortunate.”

Clint let out a laugh. It was forced, and not at all like his usual laughs. But it was something. “That's an odd nickname.”

“Yes, but apt. It seemed that everything Bork touched went wrong. He started out as a shepherd. But his flock got very small due to _certain_ animals. Dragons, of course. The fact is, Bork and dragons didn't seem to mix. So, he gave blacksmithing a try... and then he had a go at farming. But since none of those things worked out due to the same reasons, he settled for the life of a fisherman. Though everyone used to say, ‘If you see a dragon: Kill on sight’, it was Bork who had the idea to classify them.”

“How many classes are there?” Natasha asked.

“Six; Stoker, Boulder, Sharp, Tidal, Mystery, and Strike. You might have some extra classes, like Tracker, but I’m not very sure of it. It changes constantly. All have their own traits and are very dangerous. But we want to talk about the Boulder Class now. What we saw out there is called a Whispering Death.”

Clint stared at him, slack-jawed. “Whispering Death…” he repeated, voice a whisper. He shivered. Loki rolled his eyes.

“What I remember from our lessons is that Bork says the Whispering Death knows only one thing: killing. He burrows through the dirt and rock, attacking from below. Their rotating teeth can bore through anything. And they can breathe rings of fire.”

“Yeah, I noticed each and every one of those!” Wanda said, “Don’t forget it can shoot spines from every part of its body.”

Loki nodded briefly.

“Is there any way we can… you know, defeat it?” Sam asked. His shoulder hurt a bit from the quick and sharp turns he had made outside when battling that thing. He had almost been hit like a hundred times and every second he was afraid that thing would eat him whole.

The trickster was silent for a moment, staring at the table top before him. “Uh, it probably eats fish and mutton, but that does not help. Perhaps… no… Uh. It lives in mountains, caves and underground tunnels…” Loki let out a breath, forcing out a chuckle, “We are lucky it is an adult.”

“Why’s that?” Steve asked.

“They say that hatchling Whispering Deaths have less control over their rotating teeth and spines, and are described to be ‘out of control saw blades’.”

Both the faces of Wanda and Sam turned pale. Saw blades? They had seen first hand up close what those teeth could do when the dragon had complete control over it, they didn’t even want to know what it was like when it didn’t.

“Young Whispering Deaths are known to be extremely territorial of their homeland and tunnels. If you get in, they will kill you.”

The team shortly looked at each other. Tony glanced back at the yard with all the large holes in it. If they went into one of those, that monster would kill them, that was for sure.

“Alright, we know some more about it,” Bruce said, looking up from his notepad. He had laid it down before him and was writing everything down Loki told them. Having it written down would help. He wanted to memorize everything there was to know about the thing, because it was presently living in their backyard. “But does it have weaknesses?”

Again, Loki was silent for a moment. “I’m not entirely certain, but I believe it has poor eyesight due to the fact it spends most its time in the dark, and it doesn’t have visible pupils. Oh!” Loki held up his hand a bit, “It has a terrible sense of direction, that is how it lands up everywhere and nowhere.”

The only sound was Bruce diligently writing things down, the scribble of his pen clearly to be heard in the silent room. Natasha was looking at Bruce’s notepad too.

“How about the dragon we encountered in the forest?” Clint asked then, catching the attention of Sam and Wanda.

“What? You saw one too?” Sam asked, his eyes widening.

“Yes, it was the bogey. Not a robot but a... Night Fury?” Steve asked, “What did this Bork say about that?”

“Not much,” Loki answered, giving the soldier a vague shrug. “Night Fury. Speed, unknown. Size, unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance: Hide and pray it does not find you.”

A silence fell. The team members were looking at Loki like they expected him to continue, to say more. But Loki shook his head. There was no more.

“That’s it?” Natasha asked, eyebrows raised in indignation, “We almost _died_ and that’s all we have?”

“That is really it, my apologies. No one even knows what a Night Fury looks like because they prefer to attack at night when their black scales allow them to blend into the night sky, making them mostly invisible. They are classified as members of the Strike Class. The only information that the Ljósfoldians have gathered on this rare dragon is the whistling sound of its speed cutting through the night sky, followed by a bright purple light, then finally a massive explosion. “

Tony held up his hands, “Wait, go back. What did you just say?”

“A massive explosion?”

“No no, before that. The whole sentence.”

“The only information that the Ljósfoldians have gathered on this rare dragon is the whistling sound of its speed cutting through the night sky, followed by a bright purple light, then finally a massive explosion?”

“Who are the Ljósfoldians?” Tony asked. The whole team sat up a bit more in surprise.

“The inhabitants of Ljósfold, which, loosely translated, means World of Light. There are mostly Vikings, Barbarians, Berserkers, people as such. But they are good people,” Thor answered before Loki could.

Tony snapped his fingers and nodded. “That’s another Realm, right?”

“Yeah...?” Loki answered, unsure where Tony was going with this.

Bruce did seem to catch on, and he asked, “If dragons live on Ljósfold, another Realm, how did they get here?”

They should have thought about that question hours ago but there just had been so much happening at the same time that it slipped their mind. The humans just found out dragons existed because they nearly got killed by one, so they didn’t have time to sit down and think deeply about ‘hmm, hey, where did these dragons come from?’ They had to fight for their lives.

But now they did have the opportunity to think about it, so it was time they did. Loki seemed genuinely confused and was staring at the table top.

“Hey, Loki, didn’t you say this had happened before? With the monster of Loch Ness?” Clint asked.

"I did, it happens about once every five thousand years, on a special occasion. It’s called the Convergence. It is the alignment of the worlds. During the Convergence, the Ten Realms enter a specific form of alignment that causes the boundaries between each realm to become thin. This results in several spatial anomalies including shifts in gravity, and most notably the formation of invisible portals that allow objects to move between realms, occurring at random. As the Convergence reaches its apex several large portals will open in the sky above central locations in each realm, each portal acting as a window and doorway through which parts of each realm can be seen and entered."

“Has there been one, a Convergence I mean, in the last few days?” Steve asked.

Thor shook his head, “No, there has not. Such a thing only takes place once in the few thousand years, as Loki said.  The last Convergence was merely two to three years ago when Malekith attempted to take advantage of the weakened boundaries between the realms to destroy the Universe and return it to its natural state of darkness. Jane helped me stop him.”

Loki frowned and looked at his brother, “I do not recall that happening?”

There was an awkward moment, Thor didn’t need to explain himself as Loki quietly said, ‘ooh’ and nodded a few times. It took place about a year after the gathering of the Avengers, and Loki had been long gone by then. Cut off from the outside world with more problems on his mind than some alignment.

 “So, if it wasn’t an alignment, what was it?” Steve continued.

“But hold up, the photo of the Monster of Loch Ness wasn’t taken five thousand years ago,” Tony cut in, before they could answer Steve’s question.

Loki and Thor shared a surprised look. Stark was right, there hadn’t been an alignment back then. The last had been about two years ago, and the one before that had been five thousand years ago. It could be explained by the fact an alignment wasn’t the only way to cross Realms. It was the most obvious and powerful way, and it made it easy to go from one Realm to another, but it wasn’t the _only_ way. They could scratch Bifrost, Heimdall would never allow dragons to go from one Realm to the other.

“Perhaps… Perhaps some other form of Realm traveling?” Loki offered, “I mean, there are some small portals hidden across each Realm that will lead to another, and it could have happened with the Scauldron. Sometimes certain birds from Alfheim still fly into Asgard because of the sky portal. But… it does not seem likely now. Only very few portals lead to Midgard. Plus, a lot of them are quite small and very well hidden. We have seen multiple, very different types of dragons and there is no possible way they found a doorway at the exact same time.”

Thor was silent for a moment, thinking deeply. He seemed to remember something important, something that had to do with this. He knew there was a connection, but he wasn’t entirely sure. Like he had two puzzle pieces which when one was looking at the picture clearly belonged together, but he wasn’t entirely sure how to click them together.

He frowned, his eyebrows knitting together before he turned toward Loki. “Do you remember when we met again, in that restaurant?”

Loki slowly nodded.

“Do you also remember that odd moment, when all the noise faded out and the clock said… half past one?”

Loki pressed his hand against his forehead, his eyes wide. It all came to him. The odd feeling, “Of course! How could I have forgotten about that?”

“Forgotten what?” Tony asked.

“In the restaurant, at exactly half past one, there was a trembling. A rip that seemed to work through the skin of the universe. I should have known what it was! I should have recognized it!”

“I didn’t feel anything,” Sam said.

“Me neither,” came from the others, but Thor.

Natasha stared right at Loki. “What does it mean?”

He made a vague gesture. “It was a rip of pure, cosmic energy not many can feel. Thor and I are gods, so we can, but that is not the point. The point is, I have felt it before!”

“Where?” the others said in unison.

“When I came to Earth, three years back. Do you remember how I came here? How I crossed the distance between where I was and Midgard? Barton?”

All eyes went to Clint, who was looking pretty confused for a moment, like he had no idea what Loki was talking about. Then, in a second flat, his face fell and he nodded. His hands dropped onto the table and he took a small breath. “You came through a portal.”

The others did not quite seem to catch on, but then Clint continued.

“A portal generated by the Tesseract.”

   

  

* * *

 

  

With a deep sigh, Tony slumped back against his office desk chair, the black one with red stripes and wheels. All the talking, and yelling, and arguments had made his head heavy. He didn’t necessarily feel tired, he just felt despondent. Thor and Loki were talking how, about a year ago, something was stolen from Odin’s Vault.

Odin said he was handling it, but Thor was doubting that right now. They hadn’t even told Thor what was stolen, but it was all too clear now. Someone had nicked the Tesseract from the Vault, and was using it to create portals across worlds.

The other Avengers were trying to come up with an explanation. The best one they’ve come up with by now is that the Thief was trying the Tesseract out, to see how it worked. They were making portals that sucked up innocent beings, such as dragons (though those things weren’t entirely innocent) and spit them out somewhere else. They wanted to test the Tesseract’s power on other beings first before they would use it on themselves.

Tony didn’t want to sit around and guess what happened, he wanted to find out what _actually_ happened. But Steve said they had to make plans first, to collect themselves and get their ducks in a row. They couldn’t be running around like headless chickens right now. Clint didn’t appreciate all the bird puns Steve wasn’t deliberately using.

The mechanic was holding a pencil in his hand, playing a bit with it while he thought. He still had to contact Rhodey and Pepper. He shouldn’t forget Happy and Peter either, they deserved to know too. He had to tell the kid to be careful, these things didn’t play around. These dragons were in for the kill.

He still had that worthless recording of the fight on the field. It was too dark; the camera wasn’t pointed at the attacker and even when it was he couldn’t see a damn thing. The footage of the ‘Pursuit of the Bogey’ at the US Airforce base wasn’t much help either. Now he knew what it was he could make a dragon out of those black blurs, but it didn’t bring them any further.

 “Sir?” Friday spoke up, her voice soft to give contrast to the loud and compelling words that had been spoken before her by the others.

“Yes, Fri?”

“I’ve located the bogey, my satellite radar picked it up just a few seconds ago, because it flew just high enough to appear in the radar. I don’t know for how much longer it’s going to be visible.”

Tony grip tightened on the pencil he held in his hand. He pressed down own it with his thumb, pushing it down. “Where?”

“Not too far from where it attacked you.”

_Snap._

The pencil broke in two. Tony’s hand trembled slightly, and he didn’t even look up when he heard the other half of the pencil making ticking sounds when it hit the ground. He inhaled deeply, frustrated and angry.

He bent down to pick up the other half, then sat up again, his desk chair making a quarter turn. When he cast his eyes up he looked right into the face of his Iron Man suit.

He knew he shouldn’t be making decisions while he was angry. He knew he had to tell the others Friday found the bogey and now they knew what it was, they could blast it out of the air. They should be making plans to stop it again, bring it down. But Tony was angry. That thing had attacked him and his friends, hurt his friends.

It wasn’t revenge that he wanted, he wanted justice. That monster shouldn’t be flying around here, on this densely populated planet, with enough power to take down cities. It was an animal, out of control, dangerous. They had never dealt with anything like it before. And that Whispering Death thing in the backyard had just fatally wounded Pietro, he couldn’t let such thing happen anymore.

If he brought his friends into this, they could get hurt. They didn’t have suits and even if he gave his suits to them they didn’t have his experience in flying, so they would only be in each other’s way. No, that was never going to work. He had to face this thing alone, watch it, study it. He had to found out as much as he could and make sure it wouldn’t hurt anyone else. He was going to do it, and he was going to do it alone.

He was going face-to-face with one of the most dangerous dragons in the Universe.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YES, YOU READ IT CORRECTLY. FACE-TO-FACE. It’s finally happening people! This is not a drill! I repeat, Not. A. Drill!
> 
> I felt bad about the previous chapter not being what you were hoping for, so I worked hard to make this one quickly, so I could post it soon again. And now, the next they will meet!! And yes, it will be face-to-face, they will look each other in the eyes and they will be introducing!!!


	16. Passion Rules the Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The dragon snorted and banked his wings, slowing so quickly he rocked in the air, Hiccup sat up slowly in the saddle and twisted around in seat. Her eyes catching the gold and red blur as it kept its speed to catch up to them before slowing and gliding along easily at their side.
> 
> Hiccup and Toothless stared.
> 
> It was… a man?

It all went so fast. She was taking a nice evening lap around the woods, enjoying the sight of the setting sun and the rising moon as they practically did every night. Then these explosion of blasts of colors had been fired into the air. It hadn’t looked like any dragon fire or anything else she had ever seen before, so she decided to take a look. Toothless had been suspicious, suspecting it was a threat, so he had accelerated fast.

As they pitched into a dive Hiccup had looked through her spyglass and saw a few people down on the ground. She couldn’t really separate one from another, she only saw some moving blurs who were firing things into the air. An attack.

When Hiccup came closer they yelled something and Toothless narrowed his eyes. Both dragon and rider saw this perfect target; it was a round thing with red and white stripes, almost glowing in the dark. Before she could say anything Toothless had opened his mouth and fired a plasmablast at the target. Then he threw his head up, spreading his wings out to create draft and wheeled back up into the sky. They flew up to above the clouds, taking a breath and deciding what the best course of action was. Probably not attacking, but Toothless was angry. Cranky. And so was she.

He shook his head and hissed. Letting out a wail and snarling at the clouds. Hiccup had tried to calm him down but even dragons had a line capable of being crossed, and Toothless’ line was crossed right now. Those humans were firing at random into the air, but all those colors and loud noises were like a red flag to the Night Fury. Especially after the whole thing with the iron birds, as they had fired all these odd things too. They were looking for a fight, so they got one.

Toothless pitched into a dive again, but the red-and-white target was gone, so he didn’t have anything to shoot at. After pulling up a bit, they circled above the trees, then Toothless fired a plasmablast to light everything up for a moment. He saw the shadows of the humans and snarled. Then flew up to attack once again, to blast those pesky humans away.

But neither the dragon nor the rider had counted on the small arrow flying straight at them. Toothless threw out his wings and wanted to change direction but it was too late. The arrow pierced into Toothless’ hind leg and he roared in pain.

Hiccup gasped and leaned back to pull out the arrow, wanting to land immediately to aid her dragon, but the Night Fury was furious now. He pitched back into a dive, both heard yells coming from down below. Dumb human, now Toothless knew exactly where he was…

But just as Toothless stretched out his front paws to grab the human another pushed him away and was grabbed instead. Toothless had no time to react and decided to wheel up into the sky with the wrong prey. Hiccup took small, panicked breaths. This was not what she wanted. This was not what she wanted. Toothless wailed and hummed. He didn’t either, great.

And if shooting without having a general idea of what she was going, wasn’t bad enough, Toothless’ ears perked up and he snarled again. Hiccup looked behind her, another one of those little, small arrow-like things that exploded with the force of a fully charged plasmablast. Toothless shot back, accelerating a bit to dodge the force of the explosion. Well he tried… they were pushed further into the air once again, heat washing over them and Toothless dropped the human in surprise. He fell straight down but they didn’t have time to do anything, so they just sped away.

A coward’s move.

Hiccup knew she was a lot, but she had never wanted to be a coward. She clenched her fist in her lap. She wasn’t a coward! Why had she flown away? What if the human was dead now because of her? At the other hand, they did start with firing and they had shot Toothless with an arrow. It hadn’t done much harm, but the dragon was angry about it. She sighed and leaned back. They were settled on a sea stack not too far away from where the attack had been. She could have handled it so differently from what she did, way more peaceful, but instead she made an only bigger mess.

The humans were never going to trust her now, or want to be friends with her. Not that she felt so giddy to make friends here. Those humans were complicated.

She just wanted to go home, to go back to Berk, her friends and her family. Was that too much to ask?

Toothless wailed at the air and the Viking looked up. She saw nothing, only clouds and the blue sky. Toothless wailed again, standing up and spreading his wings. Hiccup listened carefully, her head cocked to the side slightly. She heard a faint, zooming sound approach.

Hiccup came up too, standing on the edge of the sea stack. Her gaze darted along the horizon, searching the sky and staring at the clouds. She glanced back at the dragon whose ears twitched and he growled, letting out a warning snort.

The zooming sound came closer. Hiccup grabbed her spyglass and looked through the small lens. She closed her other eye to see better. A red and yellow thing was flying towards them, frighteningly fast. Great. Just great. It wasn’t one of those iron birds, this thing was way smaller and in different colors. But whatever it was, it was coming right at them. She put the spyglass back in her saddlebag and looked up once more.

She jumped onto Toothless. “Go bud!” she called out.

The Night Fury stretched out his massive wingspan and jumped off the ground, his wings pounding the air as he pulled up, practically sprinting into the higher altitudes, slicing through the thick clouds and tilted away from the main land.

Toothless gave large beats, his neck stretching out as his whole body moved along with his movements. He flew parallel to the ground, his eyes narrowed in determination and his bonded on his back. The red and yellow thing now surely had seen them, and it was setting the chase. Toothless pulled up and made an almost ninety degrees turn, wheeling into the sky. She flew into the puffy white or light gray clouds that looked like floating cotton balls.

Clouds swirled around Hiccup in a cool greeting. Her eyes began to water as a wind whipped the hair across her face, but she didn’t care. Toothless arched over the top of the clouds and dove deep down to the ocean again. Toothless rolled onto his side and fell, staying on his side and cutting through clouds, ready for potential bombs or fire.

None came.

He rolled back onto his belly and arched down to the ocean, skimming over the water for a moment. She pushed her heel far down and pulled the nose of her shoe up, the tailfin flared out and she pulled at the saddle, helping Toothless to start climbing up. He beat his wings, pounding them down along his body, flying straight vertically up as if swimming to the surface. Hiccup moved up and down with his movements, her eyes squinting and her hair floating in the wind. She felt Toothless' muscles tighten underneath her, she could feel the tenseness inside of him.

The thing followed them straight up, shooting at them as some sort of a huge arrow. She still didn't even see any wings or anything. Toothless let out a roar and beat his wings even harder. They broke through the clouds and Hiccup felt a smile tug at her lips as she saw her beautiful surroundings, but she didn't have any time to spare to enjoy it. The yellow and red thing broke the surface of the clouds too, still following them. At a surprisingly high speed for such a small thing without wings. What was that thing?

"We can cross Singetail off the list. Those dragons are afraid of high altitude," Hiccup said as she tucked herself against her dragon's neck. They were already high above the clouds, so high she barely could see the waves moving over the ocean surface, she only saw blue and the white of clouds. "Also, not because Singetails have four wings and this thing has none. Let's try something else. Drop!"

Toothless growled and set his jaw. Then he stopped beating his wings. Their speed was gone, and they stayed floating in the air for a short moment, Toothless’ head up at the sun and his tail pointing down at the sea. Hiccup's grip on the saddle tightened and she made sure her feet stayed secured in the pedals, so she wouldn't be thrown off the saddle.

Toothless tumbled back over himself. They fell back down to the sea, Hiccup below Toothless, her back downwards at the water. Then Toothless leaned even further so he was vertical to the sea surface. His wings started again. They didn't stretch out to their full length but only slightly, enough to give strong, fast wing beats but not enough to slow them down.

They shot right back down, flying past the yellow and red thing in a streak of black. They went too fast for Hiccup to get a good visual on it, but from what she saw didn't even remotely look like a dragon. Whatever was following them was no dragon, by far.

Hiccup felt the rush of the plummet till deep in her bones and a warm feeling of familiarity and enthusiasm spread through her. Toothless narrowed his eyes and his ears moved around. They broke through the surface of the clouds again and Hiccup was blinded for a moment.

"It’s no dragon!" She said. Toothless spread his wings out slightly further and continued diving down at full speed.

"Let's see if it's good at 'follow the leader', what you?"

Toothless let out a hum and kept flying straight down. Hiccup could smell the salty breeze and the deep blue water was closing in. Toothless pressed his wings against his body and stayed steady. The thing followed them from a distance, staying steady too. Good. She was curious to how good it was at making sharp turns.

She laid her hand down on her bonded's head, then closing her eyes. "Keep it steady, bud, just a little longer."

She listened to the wind blowing in her ears, her own fast heartbeat, the crashing waves below them. At the weird, zooming sound behind them closing in. She opened her eyes again, staring right at her goal.

At the last moment, right before they would crash into the water, she pushed her heel back in the pedal and the tail flared out in an upwards angle. Toothless spread his wings out to their full length, he threw his upper body up, with Hiccup helping him by pulling at the saddle, and at the last moment they made a knife sharp turn up. Water rose beside them, Toothless’ nails cut through the surface and many little droplets drenched her clothes and skin. Hiccup tasted salt on her lips and her hair was already feeling stiff.

She looked after her, just to see the red and yellow thing pull up too late and crash into the ocean. Water splashed up high at the impact and Hiccup had to suppress a little grin tugging the corners of her mouth, someone hadn’t learned his tight turns. Toothless shot back up into the air to hide himself in the thick clouds. It was time to disappear before the yellow and red thing would come back up.

Hiccup and Toothless hovered in the air, in a cover of cumulus clouds, both looking around to see if the stalker would try again. Toothless let out his echo-roars and his ears perked up, moving in all directions to catch a sound. Nothing.

When Toothless opened his mouth for a third try the zooming, blasting sound approached them and Hiccup knew it was back. Toothless rolled in the air and dove down, just in time before the yellow and red thing _shot_ at the place they had been a split-second ago. The zooming intensified, then a blast echoed through the air. Oh, so now it was _shooting_ at them? So now it was _attacking_ , too?

As they made their way down to the ocean Hiccup noticed something. More sea stacks reached out of the water, creating a parkour. Those rocks could work in their advantage. One of Hiccup’s hands let go of the saddle’s handle and pointed at the rock formation.

“Toothless, evading maneuvers!”

The dragon rolled his muscles and pressed his wings against his sides. Then he dipped his head, diving at the water and towards the sea stacks. Smaller, slimmer dragons such as Night Furies could make tight turns, twirls and fit through narrow gaps, now let’s see if their stalker could do such things too. They already knew it wasn’t very good at a last second pull up, but who knew? 

Hiccup tilted her heel up and pressed the nose of her shoe down. The prosthetic tailfin flared out downwards and Toothless made a roll to the side, then they spiraled down to the sea stacks. Their stalker followed them, rolling and diving too. Hiccup pushed her heel backwards, holding the nose of her shoe not up nor down, in the middle. The tailfin tucked in a bit and they dashed along the rocks.

Left, right, left. Both dragon and rider’s eyes narrowed as they made their way through the labyrinth of rock piles. Hiccup pressed her heel back in the stirrup, the tail tilted upwards and they made a Cessna spin, slipping between two stacks standing close to each other, only leaving out a narrow hole to go through. Toothless banked around the corner of a stack and beat his wings down hard, jumping over another low stack.

The Night Fury banked hard corners and sling shot around the tips of the sea stacks. He dove down the sides of each peak, flying recklessly close to the lethal edges, then sped tilted on his side through narrow gaps, his bonded clinging fearlessly to his back.

Hiccup trusted completely, she felt no fear, only the addictive flood of adrenaline, as she kept beat for beat with the Night Fury. Adjusting fractionally with each twist and tilt. But as she dared to take a look behind her she saw their persuader stayed a red and yellow blur behind them, following them easily through the labyrinth. It spun, twirled, flew up in the air and dropped back down. She had to give it to him, this thing was an excellent flyer. But she and Toothless were the best.

They had reached the end of the sea stacks and their stalker was still there.

"Time to get creative, Toothless." Hiccup coaxed the near wild dragon back down to some kind of sanity. The Night Fury snorted and fell into a series of perfectly executed maneuvers. Heart stopping dives and dips, erratic and jerky climbs, spinning and turning, rolling onto his back and diving turned over towards the ocean or the sky. They spiraled onto the sky, using thermals and drafts to each advantage.

Hiccup was dizzy and lightheaded, sure that had they not been in danger the flight would have been their most glorious. Not their fastest, she was sure her flight with the iron birds had been faster. But this one was their best trick flight.

But the stalker stayed with them, meeting their pace and staying at a distance. Hiccup glanced over her shoulder, the flurry of gold and red still behind them. The Nordic youth grit her teeth.

They'd have to outstrip him.

She urged the Night Fury to level out, steadying several thousand feet into the air, she heard the zooming-blasting-like sound become louder. She risked a glance back and felt a flutter of panic. The gold and red thing was speeding at them with twice as much speed as before, and Hiccup’s eyes widened in disbelief.

She hunched low over the Night Fury's back.

"Toothless, give me everything you got. We gotta outstrip them, okay? And if this thing keeps following… you shoot ‘em. Ready?”

They couldn’t risk it being one of those monsters they had encountered in the desert. Those black and yellow things that cut through flesh easier than a hot knife through yak butter.

The dragon roared into the air and rolled his muscles, Hiccup could feel them underneath her hands and legs. “That’s my boy!” she called out.

The dragon moaned and locked his own jaw before his wings and muscles stretched to their limit, cording and snapped as he scooped them through the air, the speed kicked up and Hiccup had to duck her head.

Wind howled in her ears and blew in her eyes, forcing them to close. She pressed herself closely against the dragon’s back, as if she wanted to melt together with him, to become one. Her hands clenched around the saddle’s handle, cramp coming up in her fingers, but she only clenched them harder.  

She could barely take breaths, they were all cut short and she felt lightheaded. Toothless’ wings beat down so fast she only saw a blur when she dared to open one eye. The dragon stretched out his neck, stiffening his tail as he shot past the waves below them. Toothless’ head tilted up slightly, so they would gain some altitude. When the dragon thought they were high enough he pitched into dive-bombing, scooping his wings through the air as they went down, using every little bit of wind that could help him go faster.

And still the stalker persisted.

The Night Fury wailed in frustration, crying out into the sky and swallowed a deep gulp of air, his gut churning in a broil of heat. If this thing wouldn’t back off by itself, they would have to _make_ it back off.

A noise spun up to him. A loud, zooming sound, sounding somewhat remotely to a dragon’s roar. Just a little.

Toothless crushed the fire in his throat, and his ears perked up in surprise.

The thing had answered.

Because they couldn’t know for sure Toothless checked his pace a bit and cocked his head, letting out another loud wail to the thing behind them.

A roaring-zooming-like sound came back at them almost immediately. Toothless checked his pace more. He shook his head and let out a third cry into the air.

The zooming or roaring sound dutifully followed and Toothless had no idea what to think. Hiccup didn’t either. This thing was answering them! Maybe it wanted to talk, maybe it wasn’t a foe. But what if it was? There was no way they knew for sure.

The dragon snorted and banked his wings, slowing so quickly he rocked in the air, Hiccup sat up slowly in the saddle and twisted around in seat. Her eyes catching the gold and red blur as it kept its speed to catch up to them before slowing and gliding along easily at their side.

Hiccup and Toothless stared.

It was… a man?

Well… not exactly a man. More like a metal man. Like a suit or something.

The suit was slender and if there were to be someone inside either the person was skinny, or the suit was tight-fitting. It was aerodynamic, and Hiccup knew it would have minimal drag by looking at it. She had to be honest, for some pile of scrap metal it looked beautiful.

The suit was mostly red, from the toes to the helmet. However, some parts were a yellowish-gold. The face part of the helmet the man was wearing was a goldish-yellow color with narrow glowing holes where the eyes were supposed to be. The helmet had some kind of a mouth, but it was more of an oddly curved line. From the chin to the side of the helmet plus the back was a shiny red.

Down to the neck was red too as was a part of the shoulders. The iron shoulder pads were red where the elbow flowed into the upper arm but yellow on top of the shoulder. There was a thin, yellow stripe from the left collarbone, going under the neck and to the right collarbone. The part of his bicep was yellow colored too. At the two sides of his chest was a yellow stripe going from his hips to the pit of his shoulders in a lazy arch. The rest was red.

The front of his upper legs was yellow too, but still with somewhat of a red, thick stripe going through it. His lower legs and feet were entirely red, and the metal boots of his iron suit had shafts reaching till under his knee, but where still entirely attached to the rest of his suit.

His arms were along his body, not pressed against his sides but in an upside-down V-shape if seen from above. From the palms of his hands came light. The bottom of his feet was glowing too, Hiccup noticed he left something looking like a cloud behind as he flew.

The most striking thing of the whole appearance was his chest. There was a round-shaped glowing thing in the middle of it. A soft blue light was shining from it, like a little blue star shining in the night sky, and both dragon and rider became curious. Both were still wary however, as they had no clue who or what this man or person was.

After a long moment the Nordic youth gathered herself to lift a hand and waved numbly at him… it?

The suit man tilted his head to the side a bit and lifted one metal hand up to wave back.

Toothless chirruped, his green eyes wide and curious. He sniffed towards the metal man and the man looked back at the dragon in return, the glowing eyes a little bit intimidating.

They glided along on thermals, watching and learning each other, adrift in the humid, cold air. As Toothless was catching his breath the metal man did nothing. His chest didn’t even move at all. His face didn’t show any expression and those glowing eyes kept staring at them without blinking. Uncomfortable with the stalker, Hiccup sat up a bit in the saddle, her hand slowly going to her the place where her blade Inferno was strapped to her lower leg.

The dragon slowed more at the shift of weight, now lazily drifting. His eyes flicking from forward back to the metal man, then back to his path. Toothless’ ears twitched, moving around in the metal man’s direction. The metal man seemed to be staring at them too. Hiccup felt her lips part slightly, but she couldn’t bring out a word. It was like her tongue lost all its strength and her throat was pinched shut. Because what was there to say? What could she say?

Perhaps asking ‘Friend or foe?’ was a smart option. But what if it was a foe? What if it suddenly attacked? They were at high risk, exposing themselves like this. But on the other hand, the stranger hadn’t done anything but following them. He hadn’t attacked or really did something. He hadn’t harmed them in any way. But on the other hand, the people of Midgard hadn’t exactly proven themselves to be kind to strangers.

Maybe that was the reason why none of them said anything. Hiccup and Toothless didn’t know if they could trust this metal man and the metal man was thinking the same of them. Suddenly something occurred to the young Viking. The metal in shape of a man was shining, pretty, smooth and didn’t look rusty at all. What if it was Gronckle Iron? The thing couldn’t be made of real iron, it would be way too heavy. Not that this was measuring up to her standard of possibility in the first place. Gronckle Iron was both lighter and far stronger than the best iron weapons and tools on Berk.

And once properly shaped and cooled, the metal took on a silver sheen. The metal the thing next to her was made of seemed to have a sheen too, only it was painted over with red and gold. But no, it was impossible. There were no Gronckles on Midgard, and thus there was no Gronckle Iron.

Hiccup kept looking at the red and gold thing, her head turned towards him. She opened her mouth and drew in a sharp breath, but the glowing eyes stared her down and she closed it again. Her hand went up to tuck some loose hair behind her ear, Godsdammit she was nervous. Nervous of his planet, nervous of her environment, nervous of this thing or whatever it was.

Toothless sniffed at the man and moaned. He cocked his head to look up at her, ready to do whatever she wanted him to do. To flee, attack, fire, or to try to communicate with it. He figured the last could never hurt.

The dragon perked up his ears, moving them slightly forwards in curiosity. He opened his mouth, his sharp teeth on display. The thing flew away from them a little, as if spooked by the teeth. Toothless retracted them and gurgled. He didn’t know for sure if the other knew it was a friendly signal, but he could always try. The thing cocked his head a bit, he had no facial expression because of the mask, but they took the movement as some kind of curious sign.

Hiccup took a deep breath and slowly extended her arm towards the suit thing. She didn’t know why, it wasn’t a dragon so bonding with it would be different and perhaps even more difficult, but she just did what she normally did. It was probably a stupid and unwise idea, but it wasn’t like she didn’t do stupid things more often.

Toothless watched her hand carefully. As she almost touched the metal the thing jerked away aggressively, the weird zooming sound spun up louder for a moment, spooking them both. Hiccup pulled her hand back and Toothless moved away too, his teeth showed again, and he snarled at the stranger. _Stupid stranger_.

With more distance between them than before, they looked at each other. Hiccup realized this could go on forever. Them just staring until one of them dropped dead of dehydration, starvation or exhaustion. They could fly like this for hours and hours, in silence, wary of one another. Something had to be done. Action had to be performed. They couldn’t go on like this for much longer. One of them would lash out, and she didn’t want to fight.

“Friend or foe?”

Seriously? She was going with the friend or foe thing? Stupid, there were so much better things she could have said. Friend or foe… pathetic.

“Depends,” came from the metal man. Hiccup’s eyes widened, there really _was_ a person inside of there! How did he fit in there? How was it possible he could fly? Was it a he or did she have a low voice? Maybe it was muffled by the helmet and the wind blowing along them. “Are _you_ a friend or a foe?” it continued.

Hmm, he did have a point. Friend or foe was for everyone differently. A dragon hunter was for another dragon hunter a friend, but to her both were foes. Though this man didn’t look like a dragon hunter, and he lived on Midgard which meant he had probably never seen a dragon before.

“Friend,” Hiccup said. Toothless hummed and threw his head up. He was still suspicious of this weird man. The dragon had tried to communicate, to be friendly to the man but all he did was looking back with these glowing eyes and expressionless face.

“I’m a friend too,” he said.

Hiccup nodded slowly, her hand clenched around the saddle handle. So, they were both friends and they both spoke the same language, it wasn’t much but it was _something_. It would be better if they could land somewhere, so they could talk things out. In the air Toothless and Hiccup were on some kind of advantage but on the ground, they could talk more personally.

She looked down at the ocean, seeing many waves moving up and falling, white foam forming on the tops. A small sea stack stuck out above the waves. It was big enough for all three to stand on with still some distance between them.

The eyes of dragon and rider met and they both knew they were thinking the same. Toothless gurgled at the metal man, to get his attention. It was hard to say if it worked but they just took it did. Toothless turned his head down and roared in the direction of the sea stack. Then he bended the rest of his body down too and in a lazy, slow arch they curved down. The metal man followed.

Toothless stalled, diving a little faster and landed on the rock on all fours, while the man landed on two legs. Hiccup stiffly dropped down from the saddle, her muscles sore but buzzing pleasantly from the hard flight, she flinched at the pain in her left knee and ache of the prosthesis. Her hand went down to her thigh, her fingers curled around Inferno. Toothless stood at her side, lowered a bit to the ground, his tail wrapped around Hiccup’s legs and his ears pressed back flat against his head.

The metal man stood still for a moment, then suddenly a soft metallic buzz-like sound emerged from it. The suit had all these little plates it was build up from, when closed it almost looked like the suit was one whole, but it _opened_. Little plates of the arms, legs and chest moved, _collapsed_ , and from the helmet the yellow facial part opened too. As some sort of lid of a box it popped open.

And a man stepped out. 

Toothless’ eyes perked up in surprise and Hiccup’s hand grabbed Inferno in shock, she didn’t pull it from the strap yet, but she did feel the need to.

He was a middle-aged man of average height. He had Caucasian skin and soft brown eyes. He had black-brownish hair, which was kept in a rough-edged manner. He had a mustache that ran all the way down to his cheeks, then straight to his chin making an enclosed form, with a small goatee as well on his upper chin.

He wasn’t wearing much, yes, his body was covered but he wasn’t wearing any armor. He was wearing some shirt, mainly colored dark blue, with grey on the sleeves and the collar portion of the shirt. At his chest a bluish light passed through in the shape of a circle. He was wearing black pants and heavy black boots.

“Hi there,” he said, taking a little step forward, his arm out. Instantly Toothless tensed, hissing and his pupils narrowed, he flexed and flared his wings, taking a step to put himself between Hiccup and the strange man.

The man stopped, and his gaze moved to the dragon. He held his hands up in a non-threatening manner. “I mean no harm,” he said, “Friend, remember? Not foe.”

The dragon snorted, ducking his head and pinning his ears, lifting his tail and rustling his wings with a warning groan and snort. Hiccup licked her lips, her throat suddenly dry, and laid an assuring hand on the Night Fury's head.

The stranger carefully extended his arm again. “My name is Antony, Anthony Stark.”

Hiccup looked at his hand, the fingers were uncurled. It didn’t look threatening, it was only a hand. And if he even tried to grab her Toothless would unleash hell. So maybe… The Viking girl cocked her head and advanced slowly. She kept one of her hands out towards the dragon who snorted and stayed put. Then, with the other, she slowly took the strange man’s hand and they shook it.

Toothless pricked his ears forward, snarled and the two let go again, Hiccup taking a few steps back. The man, Anthony Stark, looked at her expectantly, as if he was waiting for her to say anything.

“I uh,” she started. The man waited patiently for her to answer. “My name is Hiccup. Hiccup Haddock.”

She waited for him to laugh. After all, her name wasn’t exactly a normal one but it was what she had grown up with. And she was tired of people always mocking her name. Yes, she knew what a hiccup was, and she knew what it meant, there was no need to laugh about or mock it.

“Cool,” the man said only. His eyes shifted shortly at the dragon before settling back onto her. “You’re quite the flyer, miss Haddock,” he said, a smile tugging at his lips, “Made me crash into the water, and almost desperate. You’re not from around here I suppose?”

“Not really, no,” Hiccup answered, she felt more confident and started to relax a bit, “I’m from the North.”

“How far North though?” The man asked, “You mean like Canada?”

Hiccup had only a general idea where Canada was, and so she knew she wasn’t from around there. She knew Ljósfold and Midgard were very, _very_ similar in shape and lands. They were almost the same. But only they called their lands differently. So, she shook her head.

“No, almost. Up towards the Arctic Circle.”

“Ah, so you’re a Viking?”

Hiccup chuckled and smiled, “Yeah. Got it in one.”

He gave her a small smile back, his chocolate eyes smiling along.

“So, this is Friday,” Stark said, gesturing vaguely at his suit. The suit zoomed and looked up, as far as an empty suit could raise its head. Hiccup raised her brows and mumbled a vague ‘hello’, having no idea what else to do.

“Nice to meet you, Hiccup,” the suit said. It was a female voice with a slight accent. But Hiccup couldn’t pinpoint what kind of accent it was. Mainly because she was too busy being entirely shocked that a chunk of metal could _talk_. Was there a ghost inside? She decided to give it a rest for now and motioned towards her dragon, who was still wary of the stranger and his talking suit.

“This is Toothless,” she said, laying a gentle hand on his head.

Stark took a small step closer, but made sure he was a reasonable distance away from the Viking girl to show the dragon he was not endangering his rider in any way. He looked up and down the dragon’s appearance and then slowly circled around him.

Hiccup saw he was eager to get closer, but not for the reason most people did. She saw he wanted to get closer because he looked curious to all things he didn’t understand. As he walked around the dragon she side-glanced the suit. The eyes were still glowing and it was looking at them too.

“What is he?” Stark asked when he was back on his position next to the suit.

“A dragon. A Night Fury,” Hiccup said, not being able to suppress some proudness, “The fastest and fiercest of his kind.”

“I noticed that,” Stark said, again there was a smile tugging his lips. “You gave us quite the scare in the forest when you shot at us and almost kidnapped one of us.”

Hiccup’s jaw dropped and Toothless tensed. She took a quick step backwards. “That was you?” she asked, freight and wariness pushing its way up her chest. “ _You_ were in tat forest?”

Stark nodded shortly, but held his hands up again. “It’s okay, I mean no harm, I promise. I just want to talk.”

Talk? He just wanted to talk? Yeah, she had heard that before. A little too many times.

“I should go,” she said, then turning to Toothless to mount him again. Stark walked closer at her fast. Toothless flared his wings a bit and snarled again. He backed away, startled.

“Hiccup, listen, please. You don’t belong here, do you? This is Midgard, and from some sources I have heard you are supposed to live on Ljósfold.”

The Nordic youth froze in her steps. How did he know? He wasn’t supposed to know. He was a Midgardian, a human. He lived on Earth. Yeah, their planets were very similar, and they almost had the same people, but this was… he wasn’t supposed to know! Midgardians didn’t know about other Realms, it wasn’t supposed to be like that.

“How do you –”

“People from Asgard told me.”

Now her jaw dropped to the floor. Asgard? The Asgardians and Aesir? They were here? What? When? How?

“Who?” She asked.

“Thor and Loki Odinson. They were in the forest too when you attacked.”

Hiccup’s hands went up to enclose around the braid hanging from her shoulder. She felt like pulling her hair out. Some Asgardians were here, they knew about Toothless. They knew there was a Night Fury flying around, attacking them. What if they wanted to hurt Toothless? What if they wanted to take him away from her? She couldn’t allow it, she _wouldn’t_ allow it!

But they were literal _Gods_!

“But don’t worry! I’m sure that when we go talk to them, they can figure out –”

“No,” Hiccup interrupted him. “No, we won’t talk to them. Don’t you get it? They will kill him!” She pointed at Toothless who softly hummed and pressed his nose against her hip as a sign of comfort, while it was actually her who should be comforting _him_.

“They will take him away from me and I can’t- I would not be able to deal with it. I know that sounds dramatic, but without him… I wouldn’t be able to get over that. We’re a team and nobody’s gonna tear us apart!”

Stark held his hands up again and took a step back at her fierceness. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I just – It must be horrible to be stranded on a planet you don’t know, all alone. I mean, you have… Toothless… but – I just want to talk, okay? We don’t have to call these Asgardians. Maybe we can figure out something together. Not necessarily now, but perhaps later. Because I’d like to get to know you. I have never seen such an amazing flyer like you before, people like us are rare. I’d like to see who of us is better.”

Hiccup was silent for a moment, taking in the words he said. He was kind of right. It was awful to be stranded here on Midgard. She could vaguely find her way around because it was so similar to her own planet but still she had no idea where to go and if she would ever see her friends and dad again.

She was with Toothless and Dart, but still it got lonely. Not to mention she had this feeling of freight all the time. She was afraid someone would come after them and hurt them, as she had no safe village to stay with lots of Vikings to back her up.

Every person here could be a threat, she didn’t know the villages and she didn’t know the people. She didn’t know her way around and she was scared. Scared of what could happen. Going on adventures was fun, but only if she had a safe home to return to.

Maybe it wasn’t bad to accept help from the outside. Maybe it wasn’t so bad to let someone else help her. Friends were welcome.

She slowly raised her head to look back at Stark. “I think we already know I am the better one here, Mister Stark,” she said.

Stark grinned widely. “I beg to differ, and please, call me Tony.”

  

   

There were clouds moving in shoals. And so the sky was equal parts blue and a chorus of grays, streaked with silvers and golds from the reflecting sunshine. At the edge of the cloud there was a brilliant white patch, like a turning page catching the sun. The rest was dove grey.

Tony effortlessly turned to the right, dipping towards the earth in an arch, breaking through the dove grey fluffiness.

Toothless hummed and quickly followed, letting his speed increase to get right back alongside the metal suit. The head of Tony’s suit turned towards the Night Fury, zoomed and continued to drift right. Toothless didn’t even really need to flap his wings, the wind sent him in the right direction already. The slow arch towards the earth turned into a large, lazy spiral coiling down towards the valley below.

Toothless kept up easily with the suit, staying at his side and occasionally hummed or keened towards the metal man, who zoomed or whirred back. They also heard some laughter coming from inside the suit when Toothless pulled weird faces while he chirruped.

Slowly Tony evened out, weaving through the clouds, drifting ever lower. Fluffy white drifted past them and Hiccup could see some splashes of blue through holes in the white. Hiccup kept half an eye on the red and gold that was Tony and he seemed to do the same, turning his head towards Hiccup from time to time, as if to make sure she was still seated in her saddle. Psh, they could easily keep up with him, no problem.

Toothless followed the metal man dutifully, staying at his side, far away enough to not hit him with his wings. They enjoyed the view, watching clouds sail by, birds rose and fell in the air and the sun climbing higher into the sky. Their lazy flight dragged on for a few more minutes until Tony said, “Let’s see if you can follow as good as you can lead.”

Tony dropped a few meters before catching himself again and stayed flying there. Toothless hovered above, looking down at metal man in confusion. Hiccup looked past her saddle and Toothless’ side, too.

Tony gave them a small wave and a loud zoom, before he plunged towards the earth without any form of a warning whatsoever. The dragon gave a sharp churr of surprise and dove after them, Hiccup all too ready to follow. From the boots of Tony’s suit came some sort of fire, making him plummet down even faster. It left behind something like a white, cloud-like line.

Toothless swept the air with his wings, trying to catch up. Tony was spinning round and round and round as he fell, probably getting very dizzy. With a few, powerful beats of his wings the dragon swiftly joining him until the other pulled up into the air again. Then, all of a sudden, he was going double the speed he had been before and a second later a loud, deep BOOM vibrated through the air as he went even faster, climbing up into the sky faster than was possible.

Hiccup’s eyes widened while Toothless’ narrowed. The dragon locked his jaw and started his climb, determined to keep up no matter what.

But the suit was already flying towards the cloud line, well ahead of them and going fast. Hiccup and Toothless sped up, rushing their ascent. They were not losing this game of ‘follow the leader’ to a man in a metal suit. Even though they were pretty sure he just broke the sound barrier just like they could if they tried really hard. As they almost caught up Tony banked, arching towards the water, evading them once again.

The Night Fury snorted, pinning his ears and wheeling to the side to catch up. This was all about returning the favor. They had made Tony follow them in a hasty chase, up and down and up and down, they had even made him crash into the water. They had challenged him, and now he was turning their actions back on them.

Tony seemed like a person who wouldn’t just give up without some teasing. He saw what they could do so now he wanted to show them what _he_ could do. To make them bite dust and watch in awe as he did his tricks. To show off his flying skills to them.

And so he did.

The iron man dove down to the ocean, his arms at a small distance from his body and his feet spewing fire. Toothless hummed and titled his body as he rolled onto his side, curving towards the earth. It didn’t take long for Tony to sweep back into the air in a titled circle. So Toothless beat his wings a few times hard to turn, spinning back into the air towards the clouds in a streak of black.

They caught up, Hiccup reckoned Tony had checked his pace to _let_ them catch up.

“Can’t keep up?” Tony joked.

There it was.

Hiccup snorted, “You wish.”

A chuckle came from underneath the helmet, then Tony sped up again.

The Night Fury snarled and pelted after them, like an arrow from a bow, his bonded leaning low over his neck and they flew through the thick cloud cover, blinded for a moment by the vapor all around them, before they breeched back above the clouds with only the sky, sun and each other for company. Whirring and zooming spun up to them. There was a flicker of gold and red to the left and Toothless sped towards it bursting through a cumulus to nothing but empty blue.

They flew slowly in this in between space, breaking through cirrus and half formed thunder heads, stratus and more cumulus. Hiccup couldn’t stop her hand from reaching up to let her fingers thread through the fluffy white. Tony was nowhere to be seen. They arched to the left, breaking through the stratocumulus. He wasn’t there either. They hovered in the air for a moment.

Toothless sniffed and shook his head. They both recognized this. They had pulled this exact same trick with the iron birds.

Now that she brought it up… she needed to ask Tony about those. He probably knew what those things were.

While they hovered, Hiccup caught sight of a cumulonimbus cloud, thick and completely covering everything behind it. It grew up high into the sky and Hiccup could recall times she had played hide and seek in clouds such as them, because they were so big and thick. They were like giant cotton balls drifting in the sky. With a press on the pedal, dragon and rider flew closer to investigate.

Toothless took a gulp air, then he roared forward, trying to pinpoint Tony’s location by means of sound vibrations, it echoed and hummed around them. Toothless’ ears perked up and he dove to the right, breaking through the clouds and almost bumping into the iron suit.

“What the-” Came the voice from the suit, sounding surprised.

Toothless let out a happy roar. The suit zoomed and the light of the suit’s feet died down.

The suit fell gracefully, not speeding the process up but just falling. Toothless came even, half mimicking the drive in his own way, watching the metal man carefully for any sign of feints or sudden evades.

But Tony seemed to be done.

They plummeted towards the earth together. Falling towards the ground in a steep dive. When the metal suit tilted his body Hiccup and Toothless mimicked him in the opposite direction, twisting until the suit and dragon were belly to belly, so close Toothless only had to stretch out his paw a little to touch the other. Hiccup knew he was tempted to. Toothless tucked in his wings to create a somewhat similar form as the suit and they spiraled around each other, spinning towards the earth in a beautiful free-fall.

Hiccup laughed relieved at the free-falling. Her laugh was airy and loud, but she didn’t care. It had been long since she had really flown with someone like this. The others were always busy with something; work and being Vikings. They never really had time to play ‘follow the leader’, ‘tag’ or to just _fly_ because they could. Tony was fast and agile, twirling and turning as if he had never done anything else in his life, he made the perfect fly mate.

As the sea was closing in the metal man and the dragon pulled away, coming out of their dives and spinning away from each other. The Night Fury banked in the air and wheeled back to Tony, gliding alongside the suit silently.

“Okay, I have to admit,” Tony said through the mask, he chuckled breathy, “You are an amazing flyer!”

Hiccup tucked some hair behind her ear. “I know,” she boasted, but her wide grin gave it all away, “But I have to say you are not bad yourself either!”

Toothless let out a wail into the air, agreeing he was the best flyer, though no one had said such thing.

Tony pointed at another sea stack, a large one, and said, “Let’s land again. I have like a _billion_ questions!”

  

* * *

   

When landed, Hiccup loosened Toothless’ saddle a bit and rubbed down his flanks with the cloth she kept in the saddlebags. Tony watched as she did it, still looking amazed by the fact there was a real-life dragon standing right before him, not trying to eat or kill him.

“So, you speak normal English?” Tony asked, looking for a stone big enough to comfortably sit on.

“Yes, only we call it Standard.”

Tony hummed something.

“So, your name is Anthony Stark?” she countered back, “Where do you come from?”

A chuckle. “I’m from America. It’s the land over there.” Tony vague gestured at the horizon. Somewhere behind it was land, America.

“My full name is Anthony Edward Stark, but my friends call me Tony. Often, my not-friends do too, they don’t care I didn’t give them permission to.”

“That’s such a great name!” Hiccup answered, clear envy sounding through her voice. “My full name is Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third. It is said an ugly name is to ward off trolls and gnomes. Like our charming Viking demeanor wouldn't do that. I think it worked, though, because I’ve never seen one before.”

Tony couldn’t contain a small giggle.

“Yeah, ha ha, laugh all you want. Once the trolls and gnomes come at you because of your great name, it’ll be me who’s laughing!”

The stranger sat down on the ground, meaning: the rocks of the sea stack. Hiccup kept standing, her arms crossed before her chest. Toothless sat down too, his tail curling around his form. He kept throwing glances at Tony, suspicious and curious ones alike. He had seen humans up close before, like the ones in Greenland, but this was something else. Something different.

“Toothless doesn’t really have a full name, just Toothless, I guess.”

Tony looked at the dragon again, cocking his head to the side a bit. Toothless caught him staring and stared back, green eyes sparkling.

“Why is he called Toothless, though?”

As on cue, Toothless retracted his teeth and showed Tony a gummy smile.

“Oh, never mind.”

Tony decided that since Hiccup was standing, he should be standing too. He came off the ground and knocked some dust and dirt off his pants. The dragon watched his every move, not threatening, just careful. A bit like his suit did.

“But, where do _you_ come from?” Tony asked then.

“I’m from Berk. It’s on Ljósfold, the realm of Light. And dragons, I guess. It’s a lot like Midgard, actually. They are twin planets.”

The other gave a few thoughtful nods, tapping with his finger against his cheek.

Hiccup licked her chapped lips and looked passed towards the suit – Friday? Whatever it was. Tony followed her gaze, and the corner of his mouth twitched up. He twitched his fingers and made a small, waving gesture. The suit looked up and walked closer, _by_ _itself_. Toothless was crowding at Hiccup’s back and arching his neck over past her hip to stretch his nose towards Tony and the suit, nostrils flared, and ears pricked.

The suit made a zooming sound.

Toothless purred and churred back, tilting his large head to the side, ears cocked forward.

The suit stood at Tony’s side, standing a little bit taller than him. It was odd how much the suit looked like a human, in the way it moved and talked, yet it wasn’t human at all. It wasn’t an animal either, it was metal that lived. Or didn’t it live? It was too complicated for her. Her gaze darted at Tony, to the suit and back at the man.

Again, a little, half smile, and he nodded. He stepped aside and gestured at the suit as if to say, ‘knock yourself out’. Hiccup’s eyes widened slightly at the given consent and she took a deep breath. She had no idea how she should behave around a talking, metal suit, so she just went in. It was like jumping into the deep. You took a deep breath, and dived in.

Hiccup carefully reached out, offering her palm the way she did normal animals, such as yaks and sheep, also dragons, but they weren’t exactly normal. Her fingers were half curled.

The suit didn’t move, it just stared at a point past her shoulder. It showed absolutely no interest in her.

“Oh, it’s not alive. It’s just metal.”

Hiccup frowned a bit as she looked back at Tony. “But wasn’t she- I thought she was the woman?”

Tony chuckled a bit and shook his head. “Not exactly. Friday is uh… I made her. She’s an Artificial Intelligence. You got all these little devices, and Friday is like an invisible- uh, wave of electricity flying through the air. Very specific waves, they leave from one device, and fly at the other when I want them to. Then the second device ‘reads’ those waves, and she reacts. It’s really hard to explain, but she’s not actually in the suit.”

“So, who is she?” Hiccup asked, curious to her. Tony looked at her and grinned widely.

“She’s someone I can always call for help. As I said before, her name is Friday, and she’s my suit and- more, actually. My watch, my phone. You don’t know what those things are but just take my word for it. She never leaves me.”

“Like a spirit?”

Tony raised his eyebrow, “A spirit?”

“Yes, like dead people,” Hiccup said, carefully reaching one arm out to touch the circle in the middle of the suit’s chest, “Ghosts are scary.”

“Oooh, like so! No, she’s not a dead person and she’s not scary. She’ll always answer me, and she’ll get me help. Want to try to talk to her?”

Tony held his arm out to her and gave her this expecting look. She felt a bit weird, taking to a not-living thing. But well, a voice could come from it, and it could fly even though it had to weight about as much as a small dragon… so she might as well give it a shot. She nodded.

“Friday? Can you say hello to Hiccup here?” 

“Hello, Hiccup,” Friday said, “It’s nice to meet you again.”

“See, Hic, she’s nice. And she’s very helpful. She doesn’t have a body though. She’s… waves. Sort of.”

Hiccup looked at the suit and shrugged. “Eh, hello, Friday. I’m pleased to meet you too,” she replied.

“If you need to know anything, please don’t hesitate to ask me,” Friday said. She sounded like she’s smiling, but an invisible voice couldn’t smile, could they? No, they couldn’t. That was just strange.

But then again, Tony _was_ strange. He was some sort of genius with a talking fly suit made of metal. He was strange, but good strange. His brown eyes looked into the world with curiosity and some form of warmness. There was pain in them, and uncertainty, but he was welcoming and kind. And the fact he hadn’t blown Hiccup and Toothless straight from the sky the first time they crossed paths was a miracle on itself, so she was willing to give him a chance.

She reached her hand out again and let her fingers trail down the chest of the suit, her eyes big in amazement. Her other hand joined soon and she circled around the metal construction. She stood on her toes to look right at the suit’s eyes. Her prosthesis clicked softly when she made the movements, and from the corner of her eye she saw Tony look down at her feet. Mainly her prothesis. She couldn’t blame him, it was one of the first things people noticed about her.

Next to her, Toothless stretched out and touched the stomach area of the metal suit with his nose, making soft noises and nudging it. The suit zoomed back slightly, and the dragon’s ears perked up at it. The sounds were a bit mechanic and… unreal. They didn’t sound naturally, but Toothless was long happy the metal answered. He had almost blown this amazing thing up!

Hiccup grinned at Tony, who returned her smile slightly.

She then reached out and slid her fingers over the side of the helmet, feeling the smooth, cold metal under her fingers. She was unable to keep herself from touching while Tony had kept his hands off Toothless.

The suit didn't shy away when she continued touching, how could it? It was a not-living object after all. Since it was alive she guessed it didn’t notice (or minded) as the young Nordic slowly smoothed her hands all along its chest, dipping them towards its stomach area and gingerly touched the metal, hollow fingers at the side of the suit, a tad afraid she would break them, and moved up to the upper arm and shoulder.

Hiccup let her hands slide across the flat area of the backplates, feeling the cold metal underneath her fingers, feeling so smooth even through it was covered in paint. There were a few dents in the suit, but it still looked so fine. She figured he had bumped into a couple things, or maybe had been in a fight. Her lips barely parted in her amazement as she worked around to draw the same gentle path back towards the suit’s chest on the other side.

Her fingers trailed across the surface as light as a feather, careful as if she was petting a baby chicken. The suit was less soft than the yellow feathers of a chick, but so much more intriguing and intimidating. Her touch was clearly reverent, almost worshipping as she lay her hands on the suit in the same soothing way that she did Toothless' hide.

The suit wasn’t alive, but Tony looked fond of it and she didn’t want to come across like she didn’t care. She didn’t know if they shared the same understanding, the same bond, as she and Toothless did. But she didn’t take any chances. There was not even a breath of spite in the young woman. She moved and touched like a Healer, all her movements measured and coaxing.

When Hiccup traced the lines on the helmet of the suit, and it zoomed slightly, as if Friday was answering. She turned, smiling towards Tony. The newly met man was watching her with a slightly cocked head and searching eyes.

Hiccup backed off, keeping her hands to herself again. Maybe Tony didn’t like it when she touched his suit in the way she did. Maybe they did have a bond and she was crossing certain boundaries. Maybe she was going too far.

"Oh, I’m sorry. I didn't mean to- I-" Hiccup stumbled over her apology, taking another step back.

Tony turned his head straight again and shook his head. “No, no, no, it’s okay. Touch it as much as you like! It’s just…” he trailed off, exhaling softly. He made a bit of a helpless gesture with his hands. “No one has ever treated my suits the way you just did. You were so careful, so… _respectful_. It’s nice to see my inventions being treated like that.”

“Do other not treat your suit the same way?”

Again, a small chuckle. Tony kicked a small stone away with the nose of his shoe. It bounced a few times before it fell off the sea stack. “Not really. I mean, they don’t break it or disrespect it. It’s just, they don’t show interest for it. It’s not their fault, they’re just not interested.”

“I’m sorry they aren’t.”

“It’s okay, I don’t mind. And I’m used to it.”

Hiccup gave him a sad smile, knowing how he felt. She hadn’t always been appreciated either, nor were her inventions. Her automatic bola slinger had been called useless, people said Inferno was never going to work and they hadn’t appreciated the dragon constructions either.

The dragon constructions were tall, iron bars put onto each other, where a dragon could sit on without breaking things instead of a house, because they frequently were too heavy for the wooden roof and fell through it. Turned out, the metal constructions attracted lightning and a part of the village went up in flames.

“Still, it’s not a great feeling to have people not appreciating your talents or your inventions. If you want,” she added, “You could tell me all about yours. I’m dying to know how you managed to make something like this.”

A wide grin broke through on Tony’s face.

They sat down on the sea stack, Toothless walking circles around them. And after a while of talking, she found out Tony was a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist who had built his flight suit all by himself. He said the technology was sort of difficult to explain to someone who knew nothing about technology.

He wasn’t wrong, Hiccup had never heard of any of those terms he was throwing around. Tony decided to engage from a different angle. He started explaining what the suit could do in easy language, and given that this was Tony’s bread and butter, he had no problem jabbering on about it for as long as Hiccup let him.

It could fly (obviously), and it could do so because of the energy coming from the boots. There were mini thrusters in his boots, using energy to push him up in the air. Hiccup understood, when she flew with her flight suit and Toothless fired a plasmablast, she was pushed into the air too. So, she nodded. He told her he could also fire energy from his hands.

“They’re called repulsors. The palm-mounted repulsors assist with flight operation, providing lift and positive flight control, but also possess offensive functionality; firing high-density beams of highly-charged muons for a concussive attack… you understand?”

Hiccup looked at him and slowly blinked. “I did not follow any of that,” she said.

“I can fire energy with them. Like a blast of energy. Beams?”

Hiccup’s face lighted up and she enthusiastically clapped her hands a few times. “Yes yes yes yes! Like a plasmablast!”

Now it was Tony’s turn to stare at her and blink slowly. Hiccup grinned and stood up, Tony came up after her. They walked closer to Toothless.

“Toothless!” The dragon’s head perked up. Hiccup pointed up. “Plasmablast!”

The dragon darted at them and opened his mouth. A purple glow came in the back of his throat and he fired into the air. A glowing ball shot up in the air and exploded, the air was streaked with shades of purple. Tony’s jaw dropped, and he tapped on his watch. A blue hologram appeared above it and he swiped through the little things. Hiccup stared at it, she stared at the amazing light thingies coming from the watch, barely keeping her hands to herself.

“Friday, analyses,” Tony said. He turned to Hiccup, “Can you let him fire again?”

Hiccup, who was wondering who exactly Friday was and how she could go from the suit to his watch, held out her arm with her hand closed in a fist, her index finger pointing at Toothless. The dragon looked at her, then she flicked her finger down. Toothless hummed and fired at the sky again. A red glow moved over the plasmablast and Toothless, it came from Tony’s wrist. Then it disappeared.

“What’s that?” Hiccup asked, but suddenly another voice interrupted her.

_“The dragon’s firepower consists of an explosive semi-solid mass of acetylene-oxygen flames. When at charging energy and shooting, a high-pitched sound emits.”_

The blue thingy above Tony’s watch showed something that looked a lot like Toothless’ plasmablast. The voice continued,

_“The explosion is made up of a purple gaseous ring and a huge ball of fire at the center. The blast of plasma will explode even if it does not hit a target, because at high altitude, carbon dioxide is abundant and replaces the oxygen which creates the fire. The blast with no fire then explodes. Acetylene and oxygen can burn at around 6,500 degrees Fahrenheit, that is hot enough to melt Tungsten, which has the highest melting point of all metals. The acetylene-oxygen flame is ionized enough to become plasmoid, so it explodes on contact. Plasma works almost like a cross between a liquid and a gas.”_

Tony was looking at his watch with these big, exited eyes. “This is amazing!” he squealed.

“How did she know all that?” Hiccup asked, equally big eyes.

“She knows everything. She’s very smart.”

Tony smiled at the blue glow for about a minute more, sighing lightly in delight. He really liked the dragon, and the Viking girl. He felt like he could talk to her, really talk. Now he knew a lot more about dragons, but there was one thing he was still wondering.  

"So, Hiccup –"

The young Nordic straightened her back.

"– I was wondering how you stumbled across your… your… eh..."

“Night Fury?”

“Yes!” Tony said, “Night Fury.”

He motioned for her to follow and lead Hiccup back towards the edge of the sea stack. He slumped down on the edge with a sigh before sitting up better and dangling his legs over the edge. Hiccup sighed silently before limping slowly forwards, Toothless following closely making sure the young Nordic was firmly seated on the edge and sat back on his haunches next to her, the dragon laying the tip of his muzzle into Hiccup's lap, shutting the green umber eyes and purred softly.

Tony’s gaze stayed on the pair for a moment until Hiccup's shoulder's hunched under his gaze. She looked away then, watching the waves lap at the rocks beneath them. It was a calming sight to see, the blue bumping against the rocks, white foam splashing up.

Hiccup barely relaxed, the story was never an easy one to tell and Tony’s focus on her did not make it any easier.

She took a deep breath, the memories of their first encounter slowly coming into vision. Forcing the story out slowly and stiffly, unsure how much to tell the stranger, each word reminded her just how little she had told others.

It had always been around the lines of ‘I shot him down but released him again. He had lost his tailfin, so I made him a new one.’ Never had she told about how she felt when she had found him. Never had she described so vividly how she had raised the knife above her head and was ready to kill. How she had told the dragon she would cut his heart out and bring it to her father.

Hiccup had always believed that once she started to talk, the rest would flow and come naturally, a relief.

But it didn’t.

Her tongue felt heavier with each word, it became harder to bare and before it was over she had pressed her face in the dark scaled, dry skin of her bonded. Toothless purred at her. Her words sounded muffled, but still clear. It was hard, she hated it, but she kept going. She had to tell someone this.

She didn’t know Tony very well, but maybe because of their lack of relationship it was slightly easier. Maybe she could tell him this because she didn’t know him. He couldn’t judge her, he didn’t know her either.

Hiccup choked on the last of her tale and fell silent, shutting her eyes tightly, her face still pressed against her bonded. Her breathing was hitched and a little rough, faster than when she was on a flight. Toothless had fallen silent and was perfectly still, his tail curling around her form protectively.

She sat there for a few seconds, in silence. 

“I used to deal in weapons.”

With a small ‘huh?’ Hiccup forced herself to look up at the other. Tony was looking at her, his lips curled up oh so slightly at the corners, but they directly fell again. The typical sign of ‘I’m trying to be fine, but I most definitely am not’. He pressed his lips onto each other and gave this vague shrug. He had a story too, she realized. A thing most difficult in his life. She didn’t ask or push, she waited until he was ready to tell her. He had told her the beginning, so he wanted to share the end.

“Some years ago – I mean, before I was flying… no wait. When I was younger – God.” Tony threw his head in his neck, looking up at the sky and laughed mockingly at himself, as if he thought of himself like a foul. “Can’t even tell a damn story.”

“I never told my story to anyone. Not all of it, anyway. They knew some things, but not everything. I eh – heh, I don’t usually pour my heart out like this. I keep it in. I thought it would be easy if I just started but as you could see, it wasn’t. It isn’t easy, it never is.”

Tony looked at her, chocolate brown eyes met forest green ones. They looked at each other, just looking. They took their moment to just silently listen to the waves crashing beneath them, the sea gulls calling above them and Toothless sniffing next to them. Tony bit on his bottom lip, worrying it between his teeth.

So, even though Tony had done most of the talking, the fact that Hiccup remained engaged avoided any awkwardness and Tony had to acknowledge their first conversation ever was feeling so natural, so flowing and there fell no weird silences. There had been many conversations with others before, they hadn’t gone so fluidly like this one, despite sometimes working with those people for years; they either pretended to listen or just outright told him he should go find someone who actually cared.

This conversation he had with Hiccup, it was nice. It was new and fresh. She was genuinely interested in everything he had to say. She liked to listen, asked the right questions and kept up. She let him blabber on and on and on about nothing and still managed to be interested. It was nice, it felt nice.

She had told him something she clearly had been struggling with for years. So he felt it was somehow his turn, but not in a pushing, bad way. More like a heart struggle for a heart struggle. It could be something they bonded over.

So he took a deep breath and started.

“Before I made my suit, before I started flying, before I joined the Team, I was often arrogant, apathetic, callous and a hedonist who enjoyed the finer things in life, namely drinking, gambling, partying and flirting. I did and do still care for people, especially my friends. Although I caused trouble on occasion, I’ve always been willing to make up for my mistakes, which I guess is also why I became a superhero. I was outgoing and cocky, the classic playboy.”

Hiccup smiled a bit at the airy tone on which he told her. It was very different from how she had told her story.

“My wealth, power, and natural charm allowed me to get just about any woman I wanted. And I wanted a lot, let me tell you that. But… I guess I just… Ask anyone you want and they’ll tell you I’m carefree and overly confident. But I’m not.”

His voice hitched for a moment, just a moment. But then he flashed her a grin and Hiccup realized it was masked with precision. 

“A wise man once described me as ‘A man that has everything, but has nothing’. And I never realized how right he was, until then. Before I was kidnapped, I was a self-centered, arrogant person who didn't truly care for many people other than my closest friends. I didn’t. I just never cared for other people, I didn’t believe they were important enough to me.”

He stopped again, looking away for a moment. Toothless purred at him, giving him a little, encouraging push with his nose.

“I was head of Stark Industries. A company that developed weapons. I’ve designed weapons you can’t even dream of. Mass destruction weapons with the ability to wipe an entire village of the map just like the snap of a finger. I always had this moral code believing the weapons I developed were being used exclusively by the United States, the land I come from, and its allies for peaceful purposes. To protect if attacked, you know?”

Hiccup nodded. It felt a little the same as with Toothless and Berk. They had dragons and they could protect themselves if necessary, but they would never go out and seek war. Never. They kept to themselves, not looking for trouble. If someone hurt them, they’d hurt back. But they were never the one to start hurt first. She let Tony continue.

“But I never cared enough to actually look too deeply into what my company was doing. I should have seen it, I should have _known_ it. But I closed my eyes for something I refused to see. My experiences while imprisoned by eh…, after seeing my weapons were being used by terrorists, it hardened me. It did something to me. Seeing firsthand how innocent people were being harmed by my weapons and business while I remained ignorant… it made me angry. It made me _so_ angry. I used the anger and I became motivated him to become a better man. Something my old self wasn’t.”

A silence fell. Tony flinched when a puff of damp, warm air blew across the side of his face. Toothless hummed as he softly nibbled at Tony’s hair, pressing his nose against the man’s head. Tony let out a small puff of breath too, his lips curling up the slightest. The man kept his hands to himself, letting them rest in his lap as he respected the Night Fury’s personal space.

Hiccup felt a pang of surprise in her chest. Normally, Toothless was never this trusting or openly affectionate towards strangers. He was distrusting about unknown people, as they had some unfortunate happenings with strangers in the near past.

Perhaps it was because Tony was human, a lot like her, and so for Toothless a prey species. Or maybe because he and Hiccup had some singularities. Maybe it was because of Tony’s flight suit and skill in the sky. Tony flew like he had been born in the sky with his own, self-made flight suit. Maybe Toothless recognized something in him. The same thing he saw in her.

“So, when I was kidnapped I escaped. But a friend of mine… he didn’t. His last words to me were, ‘Don’t waste your life’. And I – I just…”

Hiccup gave him a soft look, “Now you’re ever scared you will die without a purpose.”

He let out a breathy chuckle and rubbed his eyes with his thumb and index finger. He threw his hands up, nearly hitting Toothless against the nose. The dragon hummed and went back to Hiccup, his tail curling halfway around Tony and his head lying close to Hiccup. So he could give them both some comfort.

Tony leaned back, his arms behind him to support him. He sighed. “You experience things and then they're over, and you still can't explain them. Gods, aliens, other dimensions.” He glanced at Toothless behind him, “Dragons. I'm just a man in a can. The only reason I haven't cracked up is probably because my girlfriend, Pepper, moved in. I love her. I'm lucky. But… I can't sleep. She goes to bed every night and I go down to my basement. I do what I know. I tinker. I...”

He sighed again, burying his face in his hands. “Threat is imminent. And I must protect the one thing that I can't live without. Her. And my suits, they're, uh... They're part of me. They help me do what I must to protect those I love.”

Hiccup gazed off in the distance. She understood. She could never judge him because had she not done the same? She had thrown away thousands of years’ worth of Viking Traditions, because she couldn’t kill the animal she had found in the woods. She couldn’t do it. She was too weak to do it. Then she had befriended their number one enemy, cared for him, rode him. She had lied to people she cared about to protect the one thing she cared about the most in the whole world: Toothless.

“I understand,” she said, looking back at the man next to her. “I have done things in the past I am not proud of. But I don’t regret it. I did it to protect Toothless and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him. War has come over us more than once because I befriended a dragon rather than killing it like all the others.”

“Then I guess we’re both a couple of idiots who care a lot for those we love.”

“Nothing wrong with caring,” Hiccup said, shrugging a bit. Toothless showed up behind her, rubbing his head against her shoulder and purring. Then he looked at her with those big, green orbs and the gummy smile and she was once again remembered why she did all the things she had done. Because she loved her amazing, goofy dragon.

Tony started talking again, "My armor was never a distraction or a hobby. It was a cocoon. And now I'm a changed man. You can take away my house, all my tricks and toys. But one thing you can't take away... I am Iron Man."

Iron Man? Because his suit was Iron? Funny name.

“So eh, are you some kind of hero?”

Tony smiled slightly. “Yeah, I guess you can say that. I mean, I can always do better and well… I’m not perfect. But I try. I try to do good.”

Hiccup gave him a smile, “Most of us are lucky not to be Kings and Heroes, because we do not have to make the choices that Kings and Heroes have to make."

“That’s deep. Where’s it from?”

“My dad. He could say some smart things.”

“He sounds like a wise man.”

“He is. Though stubborn and head-strong, he’s a pretty good dad.”

Tony slowly moved a little closer to her. He awkwardly lifted his arms up and lay it down on her shoulder. He was clearly a bit uncomfortable doing so, but well, it was the closest thing to comfort she could get on this planet, surrounded by strangers. “You must miss him.”

“I do.”

“And your mom.”

Hiccup pressed her lips to a thin line. “I never knew my mom. She eh – she went on her journey when I was still a baby.”

Hiccup made a sweeping, outward gesture with her hand before she let it fall back to her knee. Another silence fell between the two. Tony seemed sad at hearing that. He rubbed her arm and gave her a smile.

“My eh – my parents died too. Car crash.”

She looked at him with both understanding and confused eyes.

“A car is something the humans developed. It’s like a self-moving cart. It has four wheels and through a long process the car drives by itself. The person inside still has to steer, but you can decide how fast you want to go. It’s a pretty great invention, but sometimes things go wrong. Someone was after my parents, destroyed one of the wheels and they – eh, they… they drove into a tree. Not long after they died.”

Hiccup knew in an instant it wasn’t the whole story but she wasn’t one to push. If Tony wanted to tell her, he could tell her, but she wasn’t going to ask. She suspected the ‘someone’ of his story hadn’t only destroyed one of the wheels, but she kept her mouth shut. She recognized what he was describing, she saw such things in the town she had been in to.

He chuckled and pulled back, keeping his arms to himself again. He sat up straight, rolling his shoulders and then leaning back nonchalantly. He was trying to keep the atmosphere light and breezy. They probably shouldn’t go in too deep into their pasts and problems. They weren’t helping anyone by being sad. She forced herself to focus and faced with that confession, she was torn between being honest and cracking a joke to lighten up the moment. Luckily, Tony talked before she could.

“So… what’s up with you and your dragon?”

She side-glanced him and smiled, “Our souls speak a language that is beyond human understanding. A connection so rare the universe won't let us part.”

“You practiced on that line, didn’t you?”

“How’d you guess?”

“Meh, just lucky.”

Hiccup laughed and tucked some hair behind her ear. Tony sighed deeply and casted a short glance back at his red and yellow suit. It was standing not far behind them. Silent. Watching. “I sometimes imagine my suit and I have a same sort of connection. Sometimes I pretend like the suit and I are one. I know, it’s just metal and could never give me what living, breathing humans could. But they give me comfort, they make me feel safe. I know it’s odd, but I’ve always been some kind of a weirdo, I guess.”

Tony shrugged a little and looked at the horizon before them. The blue sea splashing up its waves to blend with the blue sky above and the sun giving it a fairytale like glittering.

Hiccup leaned back, her arms behind her to support her weight. “My journeys have taught me being different can become one of my greatest strengths. It taught me nothing was impossible, just improbable. And it showed me the world is a place for exploring, wandering, and a place where dragons can be as common as birds. You must go on adventure, to find out where you truly belong. I now know I belong in the skies. My feet can walk the earth, but never do I feel as free and at home as I do up there.”

She gestured up and Tony followed her hand with his gaze. The clouds were big and fluffy, perhaps it was going to rain later but now they were white as snow. Like the wool of a sheep. Tony titled his head up and let the sunshine wash over his face, closing his eyes. “I believe that to feel like you belong, it does not matter _where_ you are, but rather with _whom_.”

He opened one eye a crack and glanced over at Toothless. Hiccup now looked the same direction and stroked Toothless’ head. The dragon purred softly, and his green eyes settled on her. Those piercing green orbs she had looked into many times. Every time she looked in those she remembered home and friendship. She remembered the first time she had looked in those, when Toothless had pinned her down against a rock after she had released him from the ropes she put on him.

“I knew from the moment we met we had a connection, and I knew it would take many tries, but I always knew our first flight, would not be our last.”

Green eyes met brown ones and they shared a look of understanding, of knowledge. They both roamed the skies, both to get away from the life below and because of the feeling it gave them. It was more than freedom, to soar above the clouds, completely in control of how and where you flew, it was a sense of power. To see the world so small beneath you, to feel the wind blow along your body, to twirl through the clouds and to _freefall_ … it was living life in ways not many could. It gave a sense of _being_ , of truly _existing_.

When the world was so small they realized there was nothing they couldn’t do, if they wanted it enough. They could travel so far as their eyes could see, go as high as the heaven would let them. They could touch the clouds and feel the cold.

“My first flight was rather… messy,” Tony said then. “I had to build my first suit in a cave, with a bunch of scraps. It was literally a pile of scrap metal, which I gave some power and I flew for about five seconds before it crashed down and fell apart entirely.”

Hiccup chuckled, both because it sounded funny and because it was almost an exact copy from her first flight.

“Are you laughing at me? That’s not nice.”

“No, no. You see, when I had shot Toothless down he was trapped in a lagoon. I saw he missed a tailfin and made him a new one. I didn’t even think about a saddle back then. I just carefully attached it to his tail. But uh,” Hiccup laughed again, “He wouldn’t stop moving his tail, so I sat down on top of it and then strapped the prosthesis on.”

“Why don’t I like where this is going?”

“Because it was a disaster. Toothless thought he had a new tailfin and he could just leave. He spread his wings and took off, but I was still there!”

“No!” Tony gasped.

“Yes! The tailfin didn’t work without someone steering it though, it was too weak and stayed tucked in. Toothless was about to crash down when I pulled it out and it caught draft. Then we shot up into the skies. I moved it to the sides and noticed I could steer the dragon, it was our first flight together. We circled back over the lagoon, close to the surface of the small lake inside of it. Toothless had enough of the Viking girl on his tail so he threw me off. But well, then the fin tucked in and he crashed down into the water too!”

Toothless let out a little grumble and raised his head at her, letting out a little puff of air through his nose. She booped his nose and then scratched under his chin.

Tony was crackling and clutched his stomach. “I can totally imagine that!”

Toothless puffed at him too and flicked his tail against Tony’s back. Not hard, just hard enough to let the man of iron know he was not appreciating the comment. He snorted and stood up, taking a few steps away from them. He couldn’t walk far away, because the sea stack wasn’t very big. He shook his body, his ears flapping.

“So you… train dragons?” Tony asked, continuing their conversation.

“Yeah, I try, anyway. It doesn’t always work out like I want it to.”

“What dragons have you trained?”

Hiccup let out a ‘heh’ like sound and blew a wisp of hair away from her face. “That’s a good question. I have trained a Night Fury, Deadly Nadder, Monstrous Nightmare, Gronckle, Terrible Terror, Thunderdrum, uh… Oh, I’ve also partially trained an Armor Wing once, and a Triple Stryke.”

“A- what?” Tony asked.

“A Triple Stryke. They’re absolutely gorgeous Strike Class dragons. It’s three tails can slash through its enemies or snake around its prey to grasp it. On the tip of each of the Triple Stryke's three tails, there is a stinger, each one producing its own unique venom. They can also whip the tail, and when the three tails are combined they made one, powerful weapon.”

“That sounds deadly.”

“It is, but most dragons are. I mean, they are _dragons_. Huge, fire-breathing beasts of a few thousand pounds heavy. Though some are deadlier than others. Terrible Terrors can be nasty, but they’re relatively easy-going. Monstrous Nightmares on the other hand, are not afraid to put up a huge fight. They are big, and can set themselves on fire. If you ever see one, stay far, _far_ away. Gronckles are pack animals, they’re very social. They’re not afraid to defend themselves with lava blasts, but throw a few rocks its way and it will leave you alone.”

Tony nodded a few times, gesturing for her to continue. Hiccup was more than happy to do so. She cleared her throat.

“You got a lot of species of dragons, and they are all very different from each other. They also have a lot of defense and offence mechanisms, such as fire, lava, spines, venom, slime, poison, ice, boiling water, acid, electricity, air, an amber like substance -”

Tony felt his eyebrows raise higher with every type of attack she named.

“– a toxic glowing blue mist that paralyses its victims, paralyzing stingers, flammable mucus, blinding light, poisonous tears, fog, inflammable hot skin, rotating teeth that can also create a vacuum, siren-like song to lure other dragons, inflation, spikes flaming iron ball, and even sounds.”

Hiccup had to take a breath after all that, “For instance, the Boneknapper lets out a thunderous sonic roar that can kill you from upfront. And the Fireworm has a hot skin that is said to be hotter than the sun!”

Tony was staring.

Just staring.

Those were so damn many ways to die.

“I actually got a book full of them! Even two!”

Hiccup jumped up and turned to Toothless. She grabbed two books from her saddle bag. One was the Book of Dragons she had learned from before they befriended dragons, the other was her own travel journal.

The first book, the Book of Dragons, was outdated, and the others had wanted to throw it away as they got a new and better one. The New Book of Dragons. Hiccup wanted to keep it. There had been put a lot of work in the book and she didn’t just want to throw it away. It was like a reminder that they hadn’t always lived like they were living now. That, for this peace to come between man and dragons, a lot of casualties had fallen.

They could never forget about that.

She sat down next to Tony again. Laying the Book of Dragons on her lap.

“This is the Book of Dragons, written first by Bork the Bold, ever heard of him?”

Tony’s face cleared up, “Actually, I do! He was the first to come with dragon classification, right?”

Hiccup nodded happily, “Yes! He was the first to write this book. It’s hopelessly outdated now, and a lot of people wanted it gone because of the illustrations and the tips to kill them, but I still wanted to keep it. It played an important role in our history. Here, let’s take a look.”

It was a large book, covering all of Hiccup’s lap. It had a leather cover with some doodles in each of the four corners and a big symbol of a dragon head with a body like a snake curled in a spiral below its head. The book looked old and the pages were a bit yellow. There was also water damage, but not too much.

She flipped open the book, reading its contents.

“Dragon classifications. Strike Class, Fear Class, Mystery Class.”

She side-glanced Tony, hoping she was catching his attention. “The Book of Dragons. Between these two covers are the most incredible creatures you'd ever hoped to see. Some you might know, but there are some you've never seen before. And you won't last a day out there if you don't learn the facts in here.”

Tony raised a brow at her. “Eh, haven’t you already trained dragons?”

Hiccup nodded, letting out a chuckle. “This book contains more than just training. It's the key to unlocking a new world of dragons.”

She flipped a few pages. It showed a picture of a round dragon with a giant mouth filled with teeth and a long tail with spikes. “Thunderdrum: This reclusive dragon inhabits sea caves and dark tide pools.”

She laid her finger on a drawing on the next page where Tony saw a man’s head being blasted off by the dragon’s roar with blood spraying from his neck. “When startled, the Thunderdrum produces a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range.” There was another picture, one of the dragons getting stabbed in the belly by a Viking. “Extremely dangerous, kill on sight.”

“Wait, what?”

“I told you, the book is outdated. This is what it was before we befriended dragons. It’s not a pretty sight.”

She flipped a few pages further, stopping on a page where Tony saw a dragon with no paws, only a long, snake like body and two giant wings with spikes on the edges. On its head were two long horns. “Timberjack: This gigantic creature has razor sharp wings that can slice through full grown trees. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight.”

Again a page further, now there was a picture of a dragon with a fan-shaped tail, a very long neck and big head. “Scauldron: Sprays scalding water at its victim.” They saw a drawing of the dragon spitting water at some Vikings. One was in the middle of it, throwing his arms up at the heavens, two other Vikings were dead and there was one Viking currently dying, covered in the boiling water. Tony swallowed thickly. “Extremely dangerous, kill on sight.”

A few pages further there was a dragon with spikes all over its back to its tail. “Changewing: Even newly hatched dragons can spray acid. Kill on sight.”

One page further. “Gronckle.”

Then, “Zippleback.”

She leafed through the book, a few pages away was, “The Skrill.”

Tony wanted to look away, as the illustrations with the dragons were outright horrifying. There were people dying on every page, limbs being torn off, heads blasted off. They were all dying, dead or killing the animal before them. Blood was splashing around, screaming Vikings and roaring dragons.

“Boneknapper.”

She turned page after page, starting to summarize how each of the dragons killed, “Burns its victims, buries its victims, drowns its victims, chokes its victims, slices its victims in half, boils its victims, turns its victims inside-out.”

Dragons’ heads were cut off, limbs were cut off, they were being stabbed, hit and sliced. Heads flew around, there was blood and wounds. They didn’t spare any details and Tony began to feel nauseous. At first, he hadn’t even realized how dangerous the dragons were. He knew they could shoot fire and stuff, and the Whispering Death surely was super dangerous, he hadn’t experienced them like these Vikings did. He now realized they were way in over their heads.

This wasn’t just some robot they could smash around like they had done with Ultron, these were living, breathing organisms who had been through thousands of years of evolution, born to fight. They were like dinosaurs, but more dangerous. The weaker species had gone extinct so only the most powerful ones survived. The ones best adapted. And with Vikings going after them these dragons had to evolve in giant, killing machines.

When he saw Toothless for the first time, giving him a gummy smile and being nice, he thought dragons weren’t so bad after all. They could be reasoned with and even trained. But now he saw this… it was horrible. He realized that before one could tame a dragon, he had to go through a boatload of trouble. Before you could even get close to these animals, you had a high chance of being killed. Seeing all these drawings made him feel so glad they didn’t live on Earth.

Maybe it was cute when one flew on them, but since Hiccup was the first one to ever train a dragon, Tony slowly began to realize that thousands of years had passed where Vikings and dragons slaughtered each other till the deaths rose up into the millions. Hiccup must have lost countless people to these animals, and people from her village must have killed hundreds of dragons.

“Extremely dangerous,” Hiccup continued, turning more pages, “Extremely dangerous, extremely dangerous, kill on sight, kill on sight, kill on sight...”

She flipped to one of the last pages. No picture or information was shown on it. There were only two words written on top of the page, a black line underneath them and a black line above them to emphasize them. Tony had no idea what it said, as it was written in old Norse, in runes he suspected. At the bottom of the page there were a few more words, but not much. There was very little information about this dragon and Tony could guess which dragon it was.

“Night Fury,” Hiccup said, she tapped her finger at the bottom words, “Speed, unknown. Size, unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. _Your only chance: Hide and pray it does not find you_.”

With the last words, Tony quietly whispered along. Loki’s words were still engraved in his mind. The way he said it, the hushed tone, the little information there was known about this dragon. It made shivers crawl up Tony’s spine. It took him a moment to realize that exact dragon was standing right behind him, breathing down on the two of them.

“But this is the _old_ Book of Dragons,” Hiccup said, closing it. The book closing made Tony snap out of his trance.

He quickly looked behind him, as if to make sure Toothless wasn’t going to jump onto them with his few thousand pounds weight, claws and sharp teeth. Tony realized so many things today. If Toothless had really wanted to kill them, he could have done it. No doubt. If Toothless hadn’t been Toothless, but just a wild Night Fury, he could have ended Tony’s team in a few minutes. He would have shot more accurate, more powerful blasts that would have taken the life of more than one Avenger. Maybe eventually, they would have won, but not without paying a price.

“We found that dragons really aren’t the aggressive killing-machines we always took them for,” Hiccup said, laying the book next to her. “Most can be reasoned with and trained. You see, the ones you really must stay away from, are the ones who have ‘Death’ in their name. They are exceptionally dangerous and even for the seasoned Viking with years of experience, these dragons can end a group of Vikings’ lives in a minute.”

“There’s lot of dragons with ‘death’ in their name?” Tony asked, raising one eyebrow slightly.

“Kinda? Except for the Deadly Nadder, perhaps. Nadders can be very dangerous, but not as dangerous as the others with Death in the name in comparison. You got the Deathgripper, Red Death, Whispering Death, Screaming Death, Death Song, Purple Death and Sweet Death, for as far as I know. Could be more dragons with Death in their name.”

Tony had an eyebrow pulled up high, then he suddenly frowned. “Did you just say, Whispering Death?”

Hiccup nodded, running the back of her hand underneath her nose. “Yeah, why?”

Tony was silent for a moment, gazing at a point over her shoulder. He then shrugged vaguely. “I don’t know. It just caught my attention, I guess.”

A few nods from the other. She closed her eyes to the lullaby of the ocean, breathing in its pungent salty breeze. The ocean breeze was enough to blow errant strands of hair back toward the rocks behind, but not sufficient enough to make her feel pushed back. It was beautiful up here. People could say whatever they wanted, Midgard was a beautiful planet. Maybe it was too full, maybe the humans weren’t treating it right, but nature always found its way.

People may not be forever, but the planet was always going to be there. The sea would continue falling and rising, the wind would keep blowing and the sun would continue shining. There was nothing humans could do to stop that, and why would they?

Maybe they were lucky they didn’t have any dragons. Hiccup could never live without them again, but she clearly remembered times where she had wished for a dragon-free world.

“Did a dragon do that?” Tony asked.

Hiccup snapped up from her thoughts. “What?”

Tony pointed at her right hand, at the claw marks at the back. Hiccup kept her mouth close, holding her hand up slightly to look at the scars. She had no idea if they’d ever heal properly again, and forever it would a reminder of what she had seen in the Wrurora desert.

“No, it was something else. It had some long nails.”

Her short answer and flat tone told Tony she didn’t want to talk about it, so he didn’t push further. Nor did he ask how she lost her leg, though he was incredibly curious. But he knew he shouldn’t, because somewhere inside his chest he felt like it would be the same if someone asked why he had that glowing sphere in his chest. He was glad Hiccup didn’t ask, he didn’t want to explain.

He should step onto a more general topic, one she did enjoy talking about. From what Tony already knew about her, was that she liked dragons. So, dragons it was.

“Say I encountered one, what should I do?” Tony asked.

Hiccup sat up straight and her gaze snapped at Tony, away from her thoughts, “What?”

“If I were ever to encounter a Whispering Death, what should I do?”

“You’ve _seen_ a Whispering Death?” Her eyes went wide, and she seemed to turn just a tad paler. Tony didn’t know how she knew the ‘if’ meant ‘I did’ but she somehow did. He shrugged, like it was no big. Which it was. It was a giant deal because it was a dangerous dragon and it had to go.

“It nearly killed one of my team mates, that thing is _nasty_.”

“Whispering Deaths hunt from underground, got a few hundred, spinning teeth in their mouth, can shoot fire and are highly aggressive to things invading its territory. Stay _away_. It’s already hard for me to deal with one, and I’m an experienced Dragon Trainer with a Night Fury by my side. For people who have never dealt with any type of dragon before, you’re walking straight towards your death.”

“Yeah okay, but how does one chase it away?”

“Do you have to?” Hiccup asked, raising an eyebrow. “Can’t you… leave it alone? Stay out of its way?”

“It’s currently living in our backyard, so no, we can’t.”

The Viking girl let out a tired breath and leaned back on her arms. She tapped with her finger on the ground while she thought. Tony really hoped she knew what to do. They had to get the dragon out of their backyard, away from the people. They could get hurt badly, or worse.

“Well,” Hiccup said, after a moment thinking. “They hate bright light, because their eyes are sensitive, but they barely have other weaknesses. Whispering Deaths are almost untrainable. They are very destructive and aggressive in nature, attacking anything in their way and are generally feared by other dragons and people in general. The only way to train a Whispering Death would be to capture it and take your time until you eventually gain its trust or by raising one as a hatchling.”

Tony nodded a few times, but he didn’t seem satisfied with her answer. “But we don’t want to _train_ it, we just want to get _rid_ of it. We want to be able to walk through our yard without a twenty-five-thousand-pound killer dragon jumping on us.”

“Even with dragons, chasing a Whispering Death away is nearly impossible. You’ll have to defeat it, and then make it clear you’re the stronger one and it has to leave. Toothless has done that before; they were originally battling to the death, but Toothless decided not to kill the Whispering Death, but instead chase it away.”

“Okay… can’t you come with me, to help?”

Hiccup looked away for a moment, stroking some hair behind her ear. “You know I can’t, Tony. It’s best if we stay separated. I’m going to find a way to get back to my planet, so I don’t do any more damage than I’ve already done.”

“You _do_ know you saved all those people in that city you blew up, do you?” Tony asked, softly, “Those men you attacked were terrorists and they were going to kill innocent people. You did good. And that thing in the woods… you had every right to lash out. If it had been me in your shoes, I would have kept firing like crazy.”

Hiccup plucked at a small plant that grew between the cracks of the rock. She shrugged vague, like Tony had done a lot before. She wasn’t agreeing with him, she just didn’t know what to say.

“I understand you don’t want to come. But know that, if you ever feel like it, you can always knock on my door. I’ve got rooms to spare, where I live it’s very big. Hey.” Tony sat up straight. “I’ve got more than just one house, I own a buttload of houses all around the country! You don’t have to come to one where others are, you can stay at another! Where there aren’t people bothering you!”

And it would com in really handy if they ever encountered more dragons. After seeing all those drawings, hearing those names and the warning that came with them… not to mention the way some dragons killed their victims, it would never hurt to have someone close who knew a lot about them.

Hiccup let out a small chuckle, sounding a bit forced, “That’s really sweet, Tony, b-”

“You don’t have to stay there all day, but just to crash there overnight. It has real beds and food, and it’s easier to contact each other!”

“Tony –”

“If it’s space you’re worried about, don’t be! I already know a few houses from the top of my head that have more than enough space for your dragon. Plus, they’re remote and often near nature sites. One’s on a beach, another near a forest, I also got one on an island and one on a cliff! Well, the one of the cliffs gets used a lot by Pepper, so I wouldn’t pick that one.”

“Tony, listen –”

“But the others are fine! The one near the forest would be a fine pick. And I could introduce you to all that Midgard has to offer! Like television, radio, all kinds of food, architecture, phones, computers and so much more. I could even show you-”

“Tony!” Hiccup called out, stopping Tony’s blabbing. The mechanic looked up, and dropped his hands who had been making big and enthusiastic gestures. “I appreciate your offer, I really do, but I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

His face fell a bit, saddening, and Hiccup already hated it she had to tell him.

“Why?”

The Viking youth ran a hand through her hair. “Look, it sounds tempting, but it’s just – you don’t know us. And we don’t know you. We’ve had bad experiences with Midgard in the little time we’ve been here, and Toothless doesn’t like ‘new’ spaces. He’s a dragon, he loves nature. I don’t think I should force him to stay inside a house.”

“But he doesn’t have to stay inside! The house has big doors and you can go outside any time you want. Plus, it’s close to a forest.”

“Thank you, Tony, really, but I’m gonna have to decline.”

The man nodded a few times, his lips curling down slightly, and Hiccup wondered if he’s had to deal with rejection like this more often than not. She didn’t want to disappoint him, but she thought it wouldn’t be a good idea to stay at one of his places after just one-time meeting. Yes, they had a connection, as they were both real flyers, but for all they knew one of them could be a dangerous murderer. She doubted it, but still.

“It’s not a permanent ‘no’, though,” Hiccup added. She looked back at him, “It’s just… not yet.”

“Yeah, sorry, I understand, I may have been a little _too_ enthusiastic.” He offered her a small smile she gladly returned.  

Tony looked at his wrist, on a little clock he called a ‘watch’ and the smile faded from his face. Hiccup looked at him with a raised eyebrow. He sighed and gave her a roll of his eye, “I have to go, I’m afraid. I’ve been gone for hours and I guess the members of my team are getting worried.”

“And that girlfriend of yours, what’s her name again? Pep – Pepper?”

“Pepper, yes.”

“And your team, who are they?”

“We’re called ‘The Avengers’ and we’re super awesome. But that’s a story for the next time.” A silence fell between them and Tony looked at Hiccup with those brown doe eyes, “There _is_ going to be a next time, right?”

Hiccup stood up with him and grinned widely. For a moment, she had been afraid this would maybe be their first and at the same time last time together, but now Tony wanted to be a second time. “Oh, hell yeah, I haven’t even gotten to show you _my_ inventions!”

Tony’s eyes widened, and his jaw dropped, “You invent? What? Why didn’t you tell me before?! Argh, you’ve got to show me next time. Where will we meet?”

Hiccup thought for a moment. A place they both knew… “How about at the place in the forest where I shot at you? There’s more space there than there is on this wee little sea stack.”

Tony gave her a pat on her back, “Surely there is, young Dragon Conqueror. How about tomorrow?”

She nodded, “You got yourself a deal, tomorrow’s fine. It’s not like I’ve got much other things to do.”

Tony grinned. Toothless understood they’d be leaving each other for today, so he walked at the iron suit to say goodbye. It wasn’t alive, but for Toothless it held some form of conscious. It zoomed back at him, flying like equals with him and being one of the only things being able to keep up with him. He chirruped and pressed his nose against the suit’s chest, humming slightly. Then he stepped back to Hiccup, giving Tony the space to get back into his suit.

When Tony stepped back into his suit, it closed by itself around him. He wanted to fly away, when Hiccup stopped him for a last time.

“Just so you know, I’m no Dragon Conqueror. I’m a Dragon Trainer.”

   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They met!! *Throws Confetti*   
> I hope this is what you were hoping for and it wasn't too big of a disappointment. They're gonna meet again, so that's awesome.   
> And thank you guys so much for all the comments and the kudos I LOVE IT SO MUCH!! It makes me so happy to see it in my mail and you saying you like the story and ughhhh it makes me unbelievably happy.   
> Peace out my Furies <3 <3 <3


	17. I Keep You In My Vision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint: What are Infinity Stones?
> 
> Steve: Who is that 'He' Loki talks about?
> 
> Vision: Why does my head hurt?  
> Vision: And what is that purple, winged thing that just appeared from that blue-black whirlwind?

“Tony!!”

Tony hadn’t even gotten out of the suit yet before Steve raced across the path to reach him, calling out his name. They weren’t in the backyard this time, because that was where the dragon was, but they were at the front side of the Avengers Head Quarters. Where the car road was that eventually led into New York City.

The suit opened, and Tony stepped out. On the way back from Hiccup, he had been trying to come up with excuses why he hadn’t been there. Seeing Captain America running at him so quickly while shouting out his name at him, that made a stone plunge down in his stomach. Oh great, now he was going to have to listen to one of Steve Rogers’ lectures. He was probably going to address his reckless behavior, where he had been, and that he couldn’t just fly off like that. Tony felt the good mood that he had gotten in after talking with Hiccup slowly disappear.

But no.

“We suddenly couldn’t find you anymore, I was so worried!” was the second thing to come out of Captain America’s mouth, “Are you alright?”

Tony was silent for a moment, surprised he wasn’t snapped at for doing what he did, but he recollected himself and answered, “I’m fine, I just needed some time. I couldn’t think straight anymore so I went out for a flight to calm myself down.”

Relief spread across Steve’s face, then there _did_ came something that looked a tad angry. “But why didn’t you tell us? We had no idea where you were, Loki almost had a panic attack because he thought you were eaten by the dragon in our backyard!” Steve frowned a little, “Which is something I never thought I’d say.”

“ _What_?” Tony said, he walked around Steve at the HQ building, Steve followed him swiftly. Loki almost had a panic attack? That was not good.

“Is he alright? Loki, I mean?”

“Yeah, Bruce helped him calm down before it turned worse. Sam told him that if the Whispering Death had eaten Tony they probably would have heard something. And then there was Friday who told us you were fine, but that she couldn’t tell us where you were.”

Their steps echoed around the empty hallway, Tony fastened his pace with every beat of his heart and he practically ran into the living room where the rest of the team was waiting. All heads went up and to the door.

“Tony!” Came from different mouths.

Then came the questions, all partly the same. All, ‘Are you alright?’ ‘Where were you?’ ‘Are you okay?’ ‘Are you hurt?’ ‘Why did you disappear?’ ‘Were you eaten?’

He tried answering each question. Yes, he was alright, he was just out flying, he wasn’t hurt, he disappeared because he was angry and needed some air before he would do something stupid, and no he wasn’t eaten. It was odd, to have so many people worried about him, and not angry with him. It just to be only Pepper, Rhodey and Happy, because there simply was no one else. The times had changed.

He saw a flash of green and noticed Loki leaning against the back of the couch, arms crossed before his chest and a cocky smile on his face. But there was also happiness and relief.

“I heard you missed me,” Tony grinned, “I knew you would be terribly sad if I were eaten.”

The god shrugged, “Actually, I would have embraced the day I would not have to listen to you babbling anymore with great joy.”

It didn’t even sting, Tony knew that the god was secretly relieved Tony was alright. Like Cap said, he almost had a panic attack when he thought Tony was gone for good. He really cared, he just didn’t like showing it.

Tony just wanted to walk towards Loki when a pair of crushingly strong arms wrapped around him, lifting him entirely off the ground and onto a rather broad chest. Thundering laughter reached his ears and then suddenly he was being spun, long blonde hair whipping violently into his face.

"Oh no. Thor! No, Thor – damn it… THOR!"

Ignoring him completely, the laughter only increased, if that was even possible, and Thor was shaking Tony with the force of his glee. The poor mechanic almost became nauseous from being twirled around and around and around. And even when Thor did decide to stop spinning his friend, he still held Tony in a rib-breaking tight hug. Tony gasped for breath as the God pulled him closer, making it tough to breathe. He could feel his body protest and he heard a little crack.

“Thor no. Bad Thor!” Tony called out, his breath thin because of a lack of air. This was most definitely something he hadn’t missed being alone with Hiccup. He hadn’t been gone long. These hugs were most definitely not something he was ever getting used to. Loki never did anything even remotely like this, why did Thor?! But then again, Thor was an excited puppy that bounced all over the place and just loved to show his affection with hugs.

Wary, dangerous dragons and suspicious Vikings on their back? He could handle that, no problem. He was an excellent flyer himself and could fight well, plus he how to keep people talking and to make them doubt their own actions.

Overenthusiastic, crazy thunder god warlords with super strength? No, that was something else. Only alcohol could make that more bearable, he needed to imbibe copious quantities of alcohol first before he would be able to handle that. Though he wasn’t sure if Pepper would let him. Probably not.

“Thor, down. Gently. Tony wants down now, okay? Let Tony down. I'm fragile remember? Good boy.”

It helped, Thor released him and let him fall back to the ground. Since the god was huge that was quite a distance the Tony did not like that stinging feeling in his feet.

Thor slapped a heavy hand down on Tony’s shoulder and the man almost succumbed beneath the force of it. That god really didn’t do ‘gently’. “We were all worried sick for you! We thought the beast in the garden had gotten to you!”

“No, no, no,” Tony said, “It hadn’t. I’m fine!”

He quickly escaped Thor’s grip and walked closer at the others. Now it was Natasha’s turn to appear before him, her face difficult to read, as always. She hit him against the shoulder with her fist and he let out a yelp, though it didn’t even really hurt.

“I’m glad you’re okay. But, the dragon is still out there, that night dragon,” Natasha said, “So even just taking a lap in the sky is dangerous. We don’t know what else is out there, Tony, you can’t just disappear like that anymore, okay?” Her tone was soft, not judging.

Tony was just about to answer when Clint spoke, “We got to give it some kind of name, right?” he asked, he looked around the group. “Cause I’m getting tired of saying ‘the dragon’ ‘the dragon ‘the dragon’ all the time. Especially now we got more than just the one.”

His gaze shifted from person to person, his chin titled up slightly as if daring them to fight him, except for Steve, of course. Not that Steve was paying much attention to him anyways. He was constantly stealing glances at Bucky, who was about as talkative as a houseplant. He just _stood_ there.

Since he had been grabbed by a dragon and dragged into the sky, Bucky was even more withdrawn and quieter than normal. And because he already barely said a word in general, he didn’t say _anything_ now. Not even to Steve. They said to give him time, being grabbed by a dragon wasn’t just something you’d ‘get over’ soon. But because Bucky was silent, Steve was also more silent. His lips were pressed onto each other tightly and his brows were knitted together into something sad. He looked sad.

“How about… Deathkiller?” Clint suggested. Nobody answered. “No? Ghost then? Beastmonster? ‘The Unholy Offspring of Lightning and Death Itself’ is a bit long so let’s not use that… Devil then? No? You’re not giving me much here, guys.”

Tony rolled his eyes and looked back at Natasha, laying his hands down on her biceps as a reassuring gesture, “I know, I know, Nat. I promise, I won’t go away without telling you anymore. Okay? Now, I think we need to have a serious conversation about how the dragons got here, and what we’re going to do about it. Where did we left off?”

The team regarded each other shortly. “The Tesseract, and how it can be used to go from one place to another,” Bruce said eventually.

“Then let’s start there. The Tesseract, it had great power, right?” Tony began walking towards Loki, who was standing beside Thor, because obviously those two gods knew the most about this subject, “There’s a stone inside that grands that power, something like that, am I wrong?”

Thor and Loki shared a short look. “You are not wrong,” Loki said.

“Thor, didn’t you say something about Stones a little while back? ‘It's the Mind Stone. It's one of the six Infinity Stones, the greatest power in the universe, unparalleled in its destructive capabilities’,” Tony continued.

“Yeah,” Steve answered, sitting up straight, “And something like ‘I have no choice. The Mind Stone is the fourth of the Infinity Stones to show up in the last few years. That's not a coincidence. Someone has been playing an intricate game and has made pawns of us. But once all these pieces are in position...’.”

Loki nodded. “My brother was right, _he_ has made pawns of all of us.”

“Yeah, okay, we’ll come to the ‘ _He’_ and the Mind Stone later. But what _are_ Infinity Stones, exactly?” Clint asked, “I know that the thing in Vision’s head is a stone and that it can control minds or whatever, but what _is_ it.”

After a deep breath Loki raised his hands and moved his fingers. It went smoother already, he was really making progress with his magic. A swirl of colors appeared, and a black void appeared above the coffee table in the living room where they were sitting. The pigeon that had been sitting there flew up spooked, making its way over to Clint’s shoulder, where it settled and ruffled its feathers. “From the dawn of the universe, there was nothing. Then... _boom_.”

There was a small explosion in the simulation. “The Big Bang sent six elemental crystals, hurtling across the newly made universe.”

They saw six stones flying in a circle. All a different color. “These Infinity Stones each control an essential aspect of existence. Space, Mind, Reality, Power, Soul, and Time.”

Loki looked up at the others shortly. “These stones, it seems, can only be brandished by beings of extraordinary strength. These carriers can use the stone to mow down entire civilizations like wheat in a field. Once, for a moment, a group was able to share the energy amongst themselves, but even they were quickly destroyed by it. Only beings of immense power can directly wield the Stones, such as Celestials, or… _him_. Lesser beings face dire consequences; from becoming ill after being exposed to exploding when touching.”

“Hold up a second. Did he just say… _exploding_?” Clint asked.

Loki nodded. “It is too much power, it would consume you in two seconds or less. But it is also possible to place an Infinity Stone inside a container to prevent a person from directly touching it, allowing the user to wield the Stone's power without suffering the normal repercussions.”

Bruce looked up, “Like the Scepter,” he said.

“Very good, doctor. The Space Stone is inside the Tesseract, the Mind Stone is– _was_ inside the Scepter, the Power Stone inside the Cosmi-Rod and the Time Stone inside the Eye of Agamotto.”

Now Steve raised his hand, “What about the other two? Reality and Soul?”

There was merely a vague shrug as answer. “I do not know, Captain. I believe the Reality Stone is kept by… someone, but I do not have a clue to where the Soul Stone might be. And from what I have heard about it, I do not even wish to know. But what I _do_ know is that we must protect the stones at all cost. There are beings out there who would be thrilled to get their hands on such power.”

“Like the ‘He’ you were talking about?” Bruce asked.

“The person who was playing us like pawns?” Steve asked after Bruce.

“I believe so,” Loki answered, “I know for sure _he_ is after the Infinity Stones.”

The others of the team wanted to ask who ‘He’ was, but Loki cut them off. “Do you remember our conversation, a while ago?” He was looking directly at Tony, “When you asked me about what happened in New York City, because it made no sense to you?”

Tony nodded slowly. Yeah, he remembered that. The conversation that had turned bad so fast. Tony was still wondering every day who that _‘He’_ was Loki had been talking about. He was a bad guy, and he was the real man behind the Chitauri attack. He had been after the Tesseract and had sent Loki to get it for him, that was what he knew.

“When you told me about the man who had arranged it all, you mean? The one who gave you the Scepter and wanted you to get the Tesseract?”

Loki nodded. The others looked confused. Steve wanted to ask but Tony stopped him by holding his hand up. ‘ _Later’_ , his eyes told Steve.

“He- uh,” Loki fell into silence, plucking at his sleeve. “He has one main purpose in life. He has been waiting for centuries until the right time comes where he… his goal is to restore balance in the Universe. He thinks that there are too many people, not enough resources. He thinks that order is tipping into chaos and he thinks that he is the only one who is brave enough to do something about it.”

Loki licked his chapped lips, turning silent for a moment before he continued, “We do not say his name. Nor do we tell people anything about him. He is to remain a mystery, a children’s story, a thing that does not exist. We deny his being, we deny involvement, but we must always be loyal. But even though he wants to remain in the shadows, he surely loves talking about his Big Plan.” The god scoffed, an angry frown appearing on his face.

“What Big Plan?” Steve asked.

“He once came from a planet, I do not know which one, where there were too many mouths, not enough to go around. And when they faced extinction, he offered a solution. A most horribly one. One the council did not agree with.”

“Genocide.” It was a whisper from Natasha’s side.

Her mind was immediately taken back to the time of Project Insight. Three next generation Helicarriers synced to a network of targeting satellites. They were designed to proactively strike out against potential threats to the United States of America before they happened. But HYDRA had taken over and they were going to commit genocide too. Taking out everyone who was a potential threat to HYDRA in the future. She had experience with this kind of thing, and she recognized it when she heard it.

“Precisely. That was what I said. But he said that it would be random. Dispassionate, fair to rich and poor alike. He's a plague. He invades planets. He takes what he wants. And then, claiming it to be mercy, he kills half the population. His Big Plan…” Loki stopped, pressing his lips to a thin line for a moment, “It is to bring balance to the universe by wiping out half of _all_ life. He used to kill people planet by planet, massacre by massacre.”

Faces turned pale, Steve’s the most. He had fought Red Skull seventy years ago to ensure the world would be saved. That millions of lives would be spared, and the world could continue in peace. Then he had fought the Chitauri, who wanted to destroy the planet too. Then after that it was HYDRA, who were after eliminating everyone who formed a threat to them.

And last, but certainly not least, was Ultron, who thought Earth was doomed and they needed to start all over again. He wanted to drop a comet onto Earth’s surface that would wipe out all the life at once.

And now there was this Mad Man out of space who wanted to kill half of all life, not just Earth’s, but of the whole universe…

"You think He's behind this all? The dragons, I mean?" Clint asked. 

"I am not certain, this does not seem like His plan. But I do know that if this is not His work, we will have to get the Space Stone from whose work this _is_ , before He does."

"But..." Thor said, “If he goes from planet to planet, killing half the people, he will have to keep working for thousands of years. The universe is big.”

Loki shook his head, “No, Thor, that is my point. He _does not have to_. If he gets all six Infinity Stones... he can do it with the snap of his fingers like this.” Loki snapped his fingers, then lowered his hand. Steve felt nauseous, and he couldn’t help but picturing all the deaths in his mind.

“Half of all life throughout the whole Universe would just cease to exist. He sent me here to get him the Tesseract, the Space Stone, and he already had the Mind Stone, which he lent to me inside the Scepter. If I would have succeeded he would have had two of the six Infinity Stones in his possession, which would already make him the most powerful man in the universe.”

All the Avengers were quiet. There was a soft zooming of the air conditioning and the fridge, and the soft cooing of Thundersnow (as the pigeon did not understand what they were talking about), but not more. It was as if the people in the room were afraid to breathe too loudly. As if breathing too loud could someone summon that Mad Man to them. As if half of the people in the room would disappear if they moved a finger.

“Then it’s a good thing we were strong enough to win,” Clint spoke up.

“No,” Tony said softly, calling the attention towards him, “It’s a good thing Loki was humane enough to _let_ us win.” The mechanic cast his eyes up at the rest of the people in the room, “Think about it. There was so much coincidence in everything we did. It was never Loki’s plan to win and bring the Tesseract to that man, you were after something else.” He looked at Loki, and so did the rest.

The god showed them a small smile. “At first, I wanted to give Him the Tesseract, because I was angry and did not see a way out. I thought it did not matter, that he would win anyway. But then I saw you, all of you.”

He took a deep breath, “And I knew that if only I could get you to work together, to form a team… you would have the power to protect the Stones. Because _look_ at you, every single one of you holds a unique power. You may be human, but you all have the spirits of mighty warriors. You have super soldiers, people who don’t even need to look before they shoot, some of you can fly, you have a powerful witch, someone who can run incredibly fast, a Hulk, which is enough said, the God of Thunder, and more! And it is not just your strength that makes you mighty, it is the fact that you never give up. Even when life hits you in the face with Thor’s hammer, you stand up and you go on.”

They saw Loki live up a little, they could see he was passionate about this. His voice was getting louder and he sounded more determined. Thor felt a pang of happiness when he heard this, when he saw his brother gain more confidence.

Maybe it was because he finally had people believing in him. Maybe it was because he finally felt accepted. Maybe it was because he finally found a way to do good. But mostly, it was because he saw a way to make that Mad Titan pay for what he had done. To Loki, and all those other people out there. Hope was growing in his chest and he even felt a touch giddy. Before him sat a team of real _superheroes_ , all of them powerful and they would never give up.

Maybe it was because finally he felt like they had an actual chance of stopping Him from getting what he wanted, to obstruct his goals and ensure peace in the galaxy. With all these superheroes properly trained and informed… it brought a smile to Loki’s face.

“Maybe you cannot fully stop him,” Loki continued, “because believe me, he is powerful even without the Stones, but you _can_ hold him back. With all this power you have inside of you, you can stop him from getting all six Infinity Stones and snapping his fingers. Maybe you cannot protect every Stone, but you already have the Mind Stone, which in inside Vision’s head, and we are working to find the Space Stone from whoever has it now. If we can get possession of both of those, He can _never_ truly win. You hold the power to protect the universe within your hands- or head, and if you keep working together, if you train hard and never give up…”

He stood up straight, regarding the people in the room with that familiar, determined and confident look in his eyes Thor hadn’t seen in many years, letting a short silence fall to build up some drama, and a grin crawled across his face. "Thanos does not stand a chance."

Tony had a similar grin on his face, Steve was sitting up the straightest he could, Natasha was nodding in agreement and even Bucky, who had been standing still all that time, had raised his head and was looking determined. The team shared looks, knowing that if they worked together, they could face anything. Robots, aliens, dragons, gods, they could do it. They were the Avengers.

And even if they would lose, they would do that together too. Because that was what you did as a team; fight together, win together, lose together. Maybe they sometimes had their disagreements, maybe there were times where the team threatened to fall apart, but they always came back together. And they always faced that threat together.

“One thing though,” Wanda interrupted the silence, the building action music in the background (that was not really there, only in their heads) and the confidence that was growing.

Everyone looked at her, Loki’s smile was faltering. Had he missed something? Didn’t she want to fight? What was going on?

But what she said next had nothing to do with him, or his plan, or his speech, but more with someone else, "Where is Vision?"

Faces fell when they indeed realized they hadn’t seen Vision in weeks.

  

* * *

* * *

 

That was a rather good question, where was Vision?

He wasn’t in the Avengers Head Quarters, nor was he anywhere close by. He was far away on his own personal mission he had not informed anyone about. Not even Wanda, who he cared a lot about. This was about something Wanda could have helped him with, perhaps even Loki, but he didn’t want them to.

It was about the Stone in his forehead. He had a vague idea about what it was, but he did not care about what it was as much as what it could do. It was humming and buzzing in his head, had been doing that for a little while now. It was strange. It didn’t hurt him, it just felt odd.

It had started a little while before he felt that tremble ripping through the skin of the universe. He had gone out since then, trying to locate where it came from, what it was and who was causing it. Someone had been using a similar power to what he held in his forehead. It was another Stone, he knew as much. Later he found out that it the power had been used to connect worlds with each other through portals.

The humming became worse with every day that passed. And a strange feeling began pulling him from place to place, almost like it was Fate.

This strange feeling had pulled him toward… Greenland? Strange indeed. It was cold, and snow lay everywhere. But he did not care about that. The cold didn’t bother him anyway. He was an android who possessed a synthetic Vibranium body, along with a powerful space gem he knew was called the Mind Stone.

He didn’t know what it was. Not really. He knew it was not of this world, that it powered Loki's staff, gave Wanda and Pietro their abilities. But its true nature was a mystery and yet it was part of him. He wasn’t afraid of it. He just wished to understand it. The more he did, the less it controlled him. One day, who knew? He may even control it. But not yet. Not today.

Combat boots dragged through the layers of snow. Flying would be so much more convenient, but he did not want to frighten the inhabitants. He did not mean any harm, he just wanted to understand. To understand what was happening. To understand what was inside his head, to understand why it was humming and what was happening with the other Stones. He knew they held great power, power that could not fall into the wrong hands.

Not wanting to frighten the people he crossed paths with, was also reason enough to change his appearance.

Through the power of the Mind Stone, Vision could willfully generate synthetic material. He remembered using this ability to create armor and a cape shortly after his birth in Avengers Tower. He could also shape more conventional clothes to adapt to society. And eventually, over time, he had evolved this ability to be able to completely change his appearance and make himself look like a normal human.

The stone hummed harder, indicating that he was getting closer to where the Stone wanted him to be. In the distance, he saw houses appear.

The village was a real tribe style village, wooden houses and small, controlled fires on the paths. The people in the village were wearing thick, furry coats, everything to protect themselves from the cold. It was then that Vision realized he should have gotten himself a coat too. He was walking there in plain jeans and a shirt with long sleeves, neither of those clothing pieces were protecting him against the cold.

An old man came shuffling towards him, leaning on a staff. Vision cocked his head to the side a little, curious to this man.

“Welcome, traveler,” he said solemnly, his eyes warm and welcoming.

“Thank you, sir,” Vision said back, and he held his hand out.

The old man shook his hand, and gave him a friendly nod before they let go again.

“I am Aklaq,” the old man continued, giving Vision a wrinkly, but kind, smile. Aklaq, meaning: Black Bear. Vision had quickly searched the web for it.

“My name is…” Vision stopped for a moment, should he tell who he was? He probably shouldn’t, as he had no idea what to expect, but then again, it couldn’t hurt, “Vision.”

“Hmm. Well, _Vision_. You do now have to hide behind a skin that is not yours. Unless, of course, you feel more comfortable in it?”

With a somewhat relieved breath, Vision dropped his cloaking. It wasn’t like it cost him much energy or that it was annoying. But with the Stone in his head humming and buzzing, almost anything he did felt uncomfortable and tiring. He was back to his usual green and red self, earning himself some gasps around him.

“Come,” the old man said, “Let us talk somewhere private.”

He led Vision to a house in the middle of the village. While walking there, Vision got about twice as much stares. Children came out of their homes to look at the red android walking through the village. He smiled at them, giving them a short nod. He knew he was well known after the Ultron thing, when he began working together with the Avengers.

Inside the house of the Village oldest they sat down with a cup of tea. Vision did not drink any of it, he couldn’t. He did not have a digestive system; therefore, he had never eaten of drunk anything. He thanked the man for the offer, though.

“You are here for the strange occurrences, are you not?” Aklaq asked, looking at him with a look as serious as when parents faced their ill child.

Vision nodded, his hand almost automatically going up to the yellow Stone in his head.

“Does it have to do with the gem in your head?”

Once more, Vision nodded. “I believe so. But not directly. There are more Stones like these, spread throughout the Universe. And I believe there is someone using the power of one of those Stones, but it shows through all of them.”

He was silent for a moment. His fingertips touching the Stone in his head, feeling it hum and buzz. He wished so hard to understand it. To know why it did what it did, what purpose it served in existence. Why it was created.

“Is it dangerous?”

He’d rather not say it, but lying has never been something he just did, “Yes. This Stone, like the others, holds a great power in it, and in the wrong hands it could have catastrophic consequences. We do not know what it can do, or how to fully control it. But I-”

Vision then doubled over, a groan escaped him as he clutched his head. The Village Elder came up a little, spooked by the sudden action.

“I’m alright,” Vision panted, still clutching his head, “The Stone… some is using…” another groan interrupted his speech.

Aklaq grabbed his arm, helping him up. “Come, come now!” he ordered. He shouted something in his own language at the people waiting outside. Two men rushed in, Aklaq told them something. They each took one of Vision’s arms and put them around their own shoulders. Like that, they helped him cover ground fast. Vision didn’t know where they were going, but his head felt like it was about to split open. He was close, _so_ close, to the other Stone that was currently being used.

They arrived at the edge of a small hill, where they had a pretty view over the ocean. He wanted to ask what they were doing there, but a second later his question was answered by something happening above the ocean surface.

A big, blue and black whirlwind appeared above the waves, circling above it in a blue mist. There was a tremble, quite like the one Vision had felt before, but less intense this time. He could only feel it because he was so close. That someone was learning how to control the power of the Stone. At first, they had unleashed full power, so Vision had felt it, but now they only used as much as they needed, and he barely felt it

An intense cold wind swept over the four standing on the edge of the hill, coming from the ocean side. From the whirlwind. The colors twirled around and around and around and around. All kinds of tints of blue flew around the crashing waves, and they made Vision’s head ache more. Looking at it made him dizzy.

Then something was thrown out of the colors, and as fast as it had come, as fast did the whirlwind disappear into nothingness. The thing crashed into the water. It resurfaced after a second or two, having two large wings on either side of its body and a shriek echoed into the air. Vision’s eyes grew wide as he tried to scan it, tried to find out what the heck that thing was.

But no, nothing in his database looked even remotely like the thing that flew up from the water, climbing up into the air. Vision merely saw that it was purple, and it had some spines, he was too shocked, and his head hurt too much for him to process anything. The men next to him carefully lowered him to the ground so he was sitting.

The pain receded though, leaving Vision panting on the ground, having no idea what just happened.

“What- what was that?” he asked.

“A dragon,” Aklaq answered, “Some we notice coming here, other arrive under the cover of the night. We have no idea how much there are, just that there are.”

Vision’s eyes couldn’t possibly grow any bigger.

  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I saw Endgame. That was something. I'm just gonna completely ignore that movie from no on. It was AMAZING, though, and I cried like... 6 times. But that says nothing I just cry quickly when it comes to movies. 
> 
> But Vision is in on dragons too, now. And Loki is finally feeling like he has a change to take revenge on Thanos for everything he has done to him. I've wanted that since even before I started writing Fanfics. Loki has been tortured, mind-controlled, and has been going through shit all his life. Then, when he was finally free, when he was finally reunited with his brother and his people, Thanos came along and snapped his neck. Fuck that.
> 
> See y'all next chapter!


	18. Ask 'Em My Questions And Get Some Answers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiccup shows Tony (almost) all her inventions. Tony, on his part, doesn't feel comfortable with Hiccup setting her camp up out in the open like this.

"So..."

Hiccup looked up from her spot on the tree trunk. “So?” She repeated.

Tony gave her a look. He kicked a stone away with his shoe and then flopped down on the trunk next to her. “You gonna show me your inventions or what?”

Hiccup grinned widely. She let her head fall back in her neck, letting the sun shine down on her face, acting as if she was ‘considering’ it. She had been looking forward to this moment since she had told Tony about her inventions yesterday. In comparison to the people of Midgard the Ljósfoldian were horribly uncivilized. Here they had phones and TV and more things. But now was her chance to show him that Ljósfoldian were advanced in their own, special way.

They had been talking for a few hours now, Tony told her about technology and she told him about life in her Village. He had showed her his phone, letting her tap on the screen and play a game. It was more than amazing. The pictures moved, and she could play honest games she had never ever seen or heard of before!

She hopped off the tree trunk and took the blade from the strap around her thigh. She flipped it around in her hands to show off a bit at first. Tony lifted one leg up on the trunk to lean on his knee with his chin, his arms wrapped around his leg to keep it in place.

“This is the best invention I have ever made… no other can match it,” Hiccup said, pausing mysteriously.

“What does it do?”

Hiccup pressed the button on the hilt and a flaming blade emerged from the inside. For extra dramatic effect, she moved the blade around herself in circling motions. Toothless followed her movements, his eyes glued to the sword. Then she slowly pointed the flaming point at the mechanic, who was looking at it with big eyes.

“This is what I fight with, I call it… Inferno.”

“No way… is that a flaming sword?!”

Hiccup nodded, feeling quite proud at his reaction. Finally, something _she_ could show off. The blade was hollow, so she let the pieces of the blade slide into each other and then back into the hilt. She spun it in her hands. It wasn’t the only cool thing about Inferno, so before Tony could fire his questions at her she held up her hand, her look suggesting there was more.

She took a few steps back from the other, making sure there was enough space between them to ensure nobody would get hurt in her demonstration. Tony waited patiently. She reached down to her ankle and pulled out a small canister. There was a whole row of small canisters attached to her ankle, they weren’t too big because otherwise they’d be bothering her when she walked.

She popped the canister of Monstrous Nightmare gel that was currently in the hilt out and shoved a canister of Zippleback gas into it instead. Tony was watching with curious eyes, not quite understanding what she was doing. Hiccup wiggled her eyebrows.

By pressing another button, gas was released through the pommel and Hiccup spun around, her arm low to the ground as the gas was released around her in a circle. It was green, and the smell stung her nose a little, but it was nicely familiar.

She then pressed a little hammer to set off the lighter, so she could create a spark. The Zippleback gas caught fire and it exploded around her, fire grasping at the air. She heard an impressed ‘ _whoa’_ coming from Tony’s direction.

She stood back up straight and walked closer at him. She spun Inferno around in her hands. “Well, what do you think?”

“I don’t even know where to frigging start! It’s a fire sword that can shoot inflammable gas! It’s awesome and I have to see it up-close.”

Tony came up and eagerly came closer. She held the thing out to him, but he then stopped, his expression turning into something uncomfortable.  

“Is something wrong?” Hiccup asked, her own grin dropping too.

“No, it’s just…” Tony struggled a bit with his words, “I don’t like being handed things. Not in my youth, and especially not after Afghanistan. It’s… complicated. People think I’m just being snobby, but…”

“It’s about trust, right?”

He looked up a tad surprised. Hiccup was toying with the hilt of Inferno in her hands, her eyes pointed towards it. “You don’t want unknown persons just pushing things into your hands, maybe it’s about negative experiences you had in the past, or just that you don’t trust people you don’t know. I understand. I can lay it on the ground, if you want?”

Tony nodded, relieved she simply said she understood and offered a solution. She didn’t look at him in an odd or judging way, she didn’t make fun of him or thought he was snobby. She actually said the exact reasons Tony didn’t like being handed things. There was more to it, however.

Growing up, Tony would hand things to his father, little stuff like school projects and the likes- only for them to be pushed away or slapped out of his hand by Howard. So, as he grew older, he learned not to hand things; and that increased to not being handed things as well.

But that wasn’t everything, Tony also liked to be in control, and the idea of him being able to pick up the item himself lend him that sense of control. Plus, in the past someone had manipulated him by handing him something; affecting him negatively. It had all to do with major issues he had been struggling with all his life.

It didn’t just show in not liking to be handed things; the issue was broader than that. That was the piece he vocalized, and he played off it purposefully, obnoxiously even, as being difficult or quirky - better to be seen as annoying than vulnerable. But there was so much more.

She laid it down in the grass and took a step back, allowing him full space to step towards it and pick it up again. He turned it around and around, looking at it from all directions before holding it out before him and pressing the button of the blade. It shot out, but wasn’t on fire.

“It needs Monstrous Nightmare gel for that, which I have here.” Hiccup reached down for her ankle and wanted to hand Tony a canister, when she stopped in her movements. She looked down at the canister clenched between her fingers for a moment, then up at Tony. He tried offering her a smile, but it was clearly a grimace, he really didn’t like this either. She laid it down on the ground once more, and he picked it up.

He shoved the blade back in, popped the gas canister out and then put the gel one in. He shook Inferno a bit and Hiccup smiled. Tony pressed the button again and this time the blade appeared enflamed. With big eyes, Tony slowly stretched out his arm and moved it around himself. “This is awesome,” he mumbled.

Hiccup walked at Toothless, nearly _desperate_ to show off her other works. “As with most of my inventions, Inferno is always a work in progress. It still rattles and backfires from time to time, and I've been experimenting lately with using different types of dragon saliva and gas. For instance, I just learned that Scauldron gel burns even when wet. And Smothering Smokebreath gas makes for a pretty reliable smokescreen when we're about to make a hasty exit!”

She pulled out her shield from Toothless’ saddle and walked back at the other inventor who was swinging the sword around like he was performing a light show.

The shield once started out as a wooden disc with an iron rim and center hub. Hiccup also painted an image of Toothless on the face of the shield. The old iron was replaced with Gronckle Iron, which was also used to reinforce the front surface, making it nearly indestructible. Hiccup eventually added a wide leather strap, so she could sling the shield onto her back, instead of having to hold it everywhere. The strap allowed her to secure it to the control cables on Toothless' right side, under the wing for travel storage.

She also pulled out an arrow from her saddlebag and put it in her belt for later use.

“What’s that?” Tony asked, letting the enflamed blade slide back into Inferno’s hilt.

“A shield,” Hiccup answered, “I know shields sound lame and only good for defense, but in addition to deflecting incoming projectile and blows, I have some offensive capabilities built into it. First things first, the plate of the face is made of Gronckle Iron which makes it lighter and stronger than before. It also makes the shield heat-resistant and can deflect flaming arrows, as well as throwing daggers and other projectiles. I can also throw it like a boomerang to disarm an opponent.”

“No way, seriously?” Tony asked. He came closer and trailed his fingers across the smooth, cold surface of the shield, feeling the grains of dried paint underneath his fingers as they touched the picture of the silhouette of a Night Fury. There wasn’t even a slight bump in the surface.

Hiccup nodded. “Now; the first offensive capability. Behold!”

Aiming it at a tree, she pressed at a certain place on the shield and the cover of the center hub shot open. A retractable hook and cable were fired from the center and shot at a branch of the tree. It could be fired off like a grappling line and so it hooked around the branch of the tree.

“What? Did that just – what?”

Hiccup pulled the cable and hook back into the shield. “Just wait and see, there’s more.”

“Of course, there is.”

A truly special feature about the shield was that the Gronckle Iron didn't just cover the shield, but was made into several moving parts that connected and joined together like a crossbow. The reinforcement had made the shield an extremely sturdy platform to build on to, and allowed Hiccup to increase the shield's offensive capabilities by adding a crossbow conversion.

She pressed the right spot again; the center hub swung away and with the sides splitting apart, it created tension for the bowstring, readying it for use. She pulled the arrow from her belt, where she had stored it earlier, and put it on the arrow track.

Not only could she fire arrows from it, she could also shoot other objects from the bowstring which acted as a high-powered slingshot. She pressed the trigger while aiming the point of the arrow at the same tree as earlier and the arrow was fired to then deeply penetrate the trunk.

“IS THAT A CROSSBOW WHAT THE HELL?!”

Hiccup grinned proudly and nodded. “Yep, nice right?”

“It’s amazing!! What else can it do?”

“I can load one bola into the center hub and launch it at an enemy if I want,” Hiccup said, almost nonchalantly.

“A bola too? Come on!”

“And it has a mini catapult.”

Tony shook his head and made a throwing-away gesture at the thing, as if he was completely done with it. “I’m out! That thing’s too awesome. I got nothing.”

“You got a suit.”

“Yeah, and you got a flaming sword with inflammable gas, plus a shield with a bola, grappling hook, mini catapult and a crossbow. That’s just… _wow_.”

Hiccup grinned widely. “Yeah, and it’s made from the strongest type of metal.”

That made the other silent. He stared at the shield, eyes slightly narrowed. “Is it made of Vibranium?”

“No… Gronckle Iron. What’s Vibranium?”

“The strongest metal on Earth. What’s Gronckle Iron?”

“It’s a combination of certain rocks, melted in a Gronckle’s stomach and spewed up again in the form of lava. We use the lava to make weapons as it is way stronger than metal and a whole lot less heavy.”

Tony approached the shield and trailed his fingers across the metal surface. “It’s not Vibranium. But I assume it comes rather close.”

“We once built a sword of it, and with that sword one could easily cut another sword in half. Also, it’s resistant even to a Night Fury’s plasmablast, an Armorwing’s flame and a Thunderdrum’s roar.”

“And you can just… make it? Like that.” Tony snapped his fingers on the word ‘that’.

She shrugged vaguely, “Sort of. We need certain types of stones and a Gronckle, and the supply is not unlimited. But yeah. Once we got what we need it’s pretty simple.”

Tony nodded slowly, sitting down on the tree trunk again. He was silent for a moment, taking in the shield and the information he just got from her. If Gronckle Iron was about as strong as Vibranium, and they could make that iron… that could mean their defenses could be upgraded a _lot._ Tony’s eyes widened a bit when he thought about the possibilities if one of his _suits_ was made of Gronckle Iron!

The metal was light but incredibly strong, and it wound grand a sturdy platform to build on. He should ask Hiccup more about that later, maybe they could even find a Gronckle, so Tony could try out said metal. That would be amazing. His hand went up a little to touch the Arc Reactor that was hidden underneath his shirt. He had made a suitable element a long time ago, something that wouldn’t slowly kill him like the palladium did. But it could never be bad to experiment a little, maybe Gronckle Iron would work even better!

He then realized he had been quiet for quite a while, and Hiccup was looking at him. He patted the place on the tree trunk next to him, and Hiccup complied.

“So, now I’ve looked at your inventions, I’m rather curious to your love life.”

Hiccup pulled a face, surprised that he asked about that completely out of the blue, to which Tony chuckled. He wondered if Hiccup got someone special, and how exactly that worked in a Viking Village. “Got any boyfriends or girlfriends? Left a trail of broken hearts behind?”

Hiccup shrugged vaguely. “Actually… no. I never had someone special in my life. And we Vikings don’t really do the whole, ‘one-night stand’ thing. It’s not considered decent. Unwanted attention from a man towards a woman is forbidden where I come from. And if the woman got divorced from the man it brought great shame onto the man because apparently, he had not been treating her well. There even had been a time where men weren’t even allowed to touch a woman’s hand if she had not agreed to it, and if they did they were to be punished by the law.”

Tony looked at her with disbelief on his face. “No way, seriously?”

Hiccup nodded while a grin on her face. “Yes, and when a man mistreats his wife, she may cut his junk off and hang it in her household.”

The genius cleared his throat and scooted away a little from where Hiccup was sitting, but his eyes still stood amused, so she knew he was just joking.

“I can see why the Viking boys might have been… discouraged to ask you out.”

When saying this he also cast a glance at Toothless, who was rolling in the grass, playing with Dart. The two dragons, rolled, came up, jumped into the air, beat their wings and did all kinds of things. Dart could fly, but Toothless was big so the odds were more than evened. Toothless actually still had an advantage.

“Yeah. That, and before Toothless I kinda was the runt and loser in our village, so nobody wanted to even be _around_ me. Luckily, I had Gobber, he’s a good friend of my father and me. It wasn’t until I grew older and had more status in the village that I began to get some attention.”

Tony grinned at her.

“Not much, though, the Night Fury is still an overall feared dragon, but I did get some things from… admirers.”

“I bet. Well, you look like a million bucks, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

“They don’t.”

Tony’s grin got even brighter. “Well, would you look at that, there was snark hiding underneath that tough Viking girl skin after all.”

Tony’s energy was infectious, and Hiccup couldn’t help but smile too, even if her own was more reserved than Tony’s. It was nice to hear something like that. She sometimes felt a little taken for granted in her own village. Of course, she had grown up with all the people there and she had known them for all her life, they aged, and she aged with them, she could imagine it was hard for them to think her of anything else than that same outcast girl she had always been.

It didn’t seem to faze the other man though. Hiccup took in the crinkled corners of Tony’s eyes, he had warm, whiskey-colored brown eyes, so different from hers. The small nicks and scars indicative of a life spent fighting villains and building metallic suits of armor. Today Tony’s hair wasn’t styled with whatever product he had used before and some of the wisps fell over his forehead.

“Oh well,” she said, “I’ve just always been waiting for the right person. I’m not really the settle-down type either, I guess. I’ve never felt the need to build a house somewhere, get married, get children. I like the life I have now. I don’t want to spend the rest of my days doing nothing but being Chief of the same old village, waiting for my husband to get home. Let alone getting _pregnant_. Which I know will be unavoidable, I must make sure there comes a new Chief. But I want to go out, to explore the world. I’ve always wanted to see other worlds too, other Realms.”

Tony swung an arm around her shoulders as if she was his best friend for years instead of a random girl he had seen only two times (three if you counted her attack in the woods).

“Well, my sweet Hiccup. I’m sure you’ll find someone who can _please_ you.” – She pulled a disgusted face – “Someone who is special to you and thinks the world of you. I’m so lucky to have Pepper. I’m the luckiest man in the world to have someone who loves me even though I’m… well… me. I’m unstable, I’m weird, I do the strangest things and to put up with me takes a lot of patience. I want you to find someone like Pepper. Someone who supports and loves you, no matter what.”

Then he looked her dead in the eye, “But don’t you dare steal Pepper from me, you hear me? I _will_ blow you up.”

She put her serious-but-not-so-serious face on and stared back at him with slightly narrowed eyes. “We’ll have to see who is getting the amazing, kind, smart, savvy business woman with the endless patience. Bet it’s me though.”

“Oh, and why is that?”

“I’ve got a dragon. What more do you need to hear?”

Tony titled his head up and laughed loudly, then he gave Hiccup a playful push against her shoulder. “Shut up, Viking girl. I have self-flying suits mind you.”

“So? My dragon lives and makes great company.”

Tony huffed, “Friday makes great company too!”

Hiccup smiled and walked closer at Toothless. “I’m sure but, can she cover you in saliva like my dragon can?”

Tony looked at his suit, head a bit cocked to the side. “Fri?”

“My apologies, sir. I am afraid I cannot do that.”

Tony muttered a curse and Hiccup only laughed harder, which caused him to stick his tongue out at her.

“C’mon, you’re a superhero, plus a billionaire. Cry a river, build a bridge and get over it,” Hiccup said.

A comfortable silence fell between them, one in which both knew they didn’t have to say anything. They could just stand there and watch the branches of the trees swing in the wind, the leaves rustling and the two dragons playing. They were romping around, trying to catch each other’s tail, lightly growling and roaring.

It was adorable, how they flapped their wings and tried diving onto each other, throwing the other to the ground. For Dart, that was pretty much impossible since he was way smaller and way weaker than the larger Night Fury, but Toothless acted as if he was strong enough, and let himself drop to the ground when Dart jumped against him.

Yet Tony couldn’t fully enjoy the sight of it. Ever since he and the other Avengers had talked about the Tesseract and the Space Stone yesterday, how it could be used to create portals. How it must be the reason why those dragons are suddenly here and that the Space Stone had obviously fallen into the wrong hands… He had been walking around all day with a heavy, cold stone in his stomach.

He knew he had to ask Hiccup about this, but he didn’t want to ruin the mood or maybe make Hiccup uncomfortable. But he knew he had to ask anyway. They had to find out where the Space Stone was, who had it, and how they were going to get it back.

“Hiccup, I need to ask you something important,” Tony said, his tone deadly serious.

The Viking youth turned toward him, giving him a small nod.

“I’d rather not ask… but I need to know how you came here.”

Hiccup came up from the tree trunk, licking her chapped lips and turning away. One hand went up to enclose around her bicep. “Oh. Uh...”

She didn’t continue. Tony felt bad for her, it couldn’t have been a fun experience, though he had no idea how exactly she got here. “There’s no need for details. But we must stop the person who’s doing this, you understand that, right?”

A nod. “Yeah, uh. We were flying through the desert, crashed down on a dragon hunter’s ship. Then we escaped, and Ragnar used some device on us and suddenly we were here.”

Okay, no details indeed. But Tony needed a little more than that. “I’m so sorry, but I have to ask: who is Ragnar and what kind of device?”

She turned back to him, “He’s a ruthless man, chieftain to the dragon hunters. His goal is to wipe out all dragons for profit. He’s been after Toothless and me for years. Wanting to sell Toothless and kill me.”

Her facial expressions tightened, and she looked furious for a moment, but then she relaxed again, “As for the device. It was a… I’m not sure, actually.”

“Was it a glowing, blue cube?” If it was, there was no doubt this Ragnar had the Tesseract.

“No…” Hiccup trailed off, staring into the distance. She remembered clear as day what happened, maybe some parts were a little hazy or unclear in her memories, she could still recall many details. She had hovered next to the ship on Toothless, having a small conversation with Ragnar. He asked her if she wanted to join him.

She said he had lost this round, then he said, _‘On the contrary, my dear Hiccup’_. He took out a small box, one she had delivered to the desert tribe. The box was made of wood, with gilded edges and a seal of silver to close it. She had recognized it, and he told her it had been him who had ordered it, but nobody would deliver it because the tribe was in the middle of the Wrurora desert. He said it had been fate that it was her who came to deliver it, because it was _her_ who he wanted to test it on.

He had taken out another box.

Thinking back, Hiccup frowned slightly. Tony stayed silent.

_This box was black and there was a weird, blue glow coming from the inside. Toothless snarled and shook his head wildly, his flight faltering for a short moment. They lost some altitude and Toothless clawed at his head with one paw. He was affected by whatever it was._

“It was black,” she said slowly, “Rectangular. But a blue glow was coming from the inside. Toothless did not like it. We lost altitude and he seemed… affected. Whatever it was, it wasn’t good.”

“Do you know any more about-”

“No,” Hiccup cut him short, “We flew there, got sucked up and dumped here. I have no idea what it was or how it worked.”

She turned away again, her hand curling around the bicep of her other arm once more. She didn’t want to talk about it, it had been strange and almost traumatizing. Especially after she first got almost killed by those monster-things in the desert, and then got captured by Ragnar. Her gaze went down to her right hand, seeing the white lines on the back.

It had almost entirely healed, but it kept reminding her of those giant mouths with rows upon rows of sharp teeth. It made her think about the bloodcurdling roars and the long nails. About they had attacked her multiple times. One of those times was here on Midgard.

“How’s your teammate, by the way?” Hiccup asked then, kicking away a small pebble with her good foot, “The one that got hurt by the Whispering Death.”

She turned back and saw Tony’s face grew a little gloomy. “Pietro, his name is Pietro. And… I think he’s okay. He got hit in the stomach with its spines, we got him to the infirmary as soon as possible. With our advanced healing technology and a little bit of Loki’s magic, I think he’ll be okay.”

Hiccup raised her brows, “Loki? The God of Mischief? The God of tricks and jests? _The_ Trickster? He’s helping you?”

“Yeah...?”

“A literal _God_ is helping you? What’s next, is Thor living in your house?” She chuckled at her own joke.

It was a bit forced, as she felt a little guilty about snapping at Tony like that earlier. She just didn’t like talking about experiences like that. Ask her all about dragons, she loved dragons deeply, but don’t ask her about Toothless’ tail or her leg, about how she got the scar on her hand or about her prolonged war with Ragnar. She didn’t like talking about that.

But she tried not to show it.

Tony was silent for a moment, working _so_ hard to keep the grin off his face. Because as a matter of fact, _yes_ , Thor _was_ living in his house. The Avengers HQ wasn’t exactly his ‘house’, but they did all live there. Hiccup’s eyes widened when she saw his grin and she looked like she had seen a ghost.

“Thor? Thor the God- God of Thunder is- he is- he- he’s-” she had to gasp for breath, then she let out some sort of laugh that showed how shocked she was. “He lives in your house. _The_ Thor, lives in your house. I thought you just knew him vaguely because he was visiting Midgard or something like that?!”

“No, he’s part of my team. I see him every day.”

Hiccup stumbled back and had to sit down on the tree trunk for a moment, her eyes still wide and her breathing accelerating. “You know Thor personally, he’s here. He lives in your house… You see him every day…”

“Well, it’s not exactly my house, we all just live in the same big building.”

The young Viking had to wave herself some air before she would pass out. The God of Thunder was living in Tony’s house, he saw him every day. They probably talked! Tony had probably seen him in action! She couldn’t wrap her brain around the fact Tony had met two of the most famous Gods that were out there.

Or weren’t they that well-known on Midgard?

On Ljósfold, they were extensively worshipped. Everyone knew them, and they were thanked when something good happened. Once, Berk had even built a statue for Thor, because they thought he was destroying their houses because they had done something wrong. Turned out it was just the new metal constructions they had built that was attracting lightning, but anyway. They had built a statue for him. Was he aware of that?

“But…” Hiccup started, “I thought Thor lived on Asgard?”

 _The_ Thor. She couldn’t comprehend she was seriously talking about _the_ Thor, who was momentarily walking the same planet as she was. 

“He did, but Loki was… banished, I think? Asgard didn’t want him, so he stayed on Earth, and Thor didn’t want to be without his brother, so he stayed on Earth too.”

Hiccup had to suck in another deep breath. “And your team, the, uh…”

“The Avengers.”

“Yeah, is he part of that?”

Tony grinned widely, “You guessed it. He’s part of my super team.”

The Viking youth found herself getting a little curious to his team, he had told her a little about it before, but not much. “Tell me more, I’d like to hear about them.”

“The Avengers is what we call ourselves, sort of like a team. ‘Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’ type of thing. In our team we got: Thor and Loki, the demi-Gods; two super soldiers, living legends who both live up to their legends; a man with breath-taking anger management issues; a couple of master assassins; two enhanced young adults; a man with wings; two men in iron suits; and one powerful synthetic life form with a Stone in his head. It’s a group of outcasts and freaks, but it’s my team, my family.”

“That sounds… interesting,” Hiccup laughed, “Are they all like you...?”

Now it was Tony’s turn to laugh, “No, no, we’re all very different. I’m the more flirty, airy person who kinda does what he wants. While Steve is… Steve’s more about rules and righteousness. He’s noble and honest, intolerant towards injustice and stuff like that. Sometimes we clash, but we do care a lot about each other.”

“Steve?”

“Steve Rogers, AKA Captain America. He’s a hundred years old, a living legend from the past. He fought in World War Two, I take it you can guess what I mean with that?”

“World War, don’t need elaboration. Two? By Odin, I feel sorry for you. But he’s a hundred years old? Can he still fight then?”

“He was frozen in ice for about seventy years, so those years actually don’t count.”

Hiccup nodded slowly, his team honestly sounded amazing. She had her own team, though she preferred to do things alone. Her own team of people about as crazy as her. “And the guy with… anger management issues?”

“Ah, yeah, the Hulk.”

Tony grinned a little and stared off in the distance, leaving Hiccup hanging. So, she asked, “Who’s the Hulk?”

“In short: he's a big green monster and when he needs to get things done, he turns into a scientist.”

He laughed at her confused face.

“You and your team, do you save the world?”

“Yeah, we do. I like to think we help making the world a better and safer place. For everyone. We’ve dealt with aliens, gods, monsters, robots, you name it. We recruit new people all the time and slowly our little team of six, expanded into a big group of… I don’t know… fourteen… fifteen people? I’m not sure who’s in and who’s not, actually.”

“Do you win a lot of times?”

“Depends on what you call winning…” Tony’s face turned a bit sad again, and he looked away at the nose of his shoes, “We try saving everyone, but sometimes we can’t. People get hurt, people die. It’s absolutely not our intention but…” he sighed.

“In a war, there are casualties. It’s not your fault. I’m sure you do everything you can to make sure as less people as possible… loose their lives. You try to save everyone, that’s already more than most people do.”

Tony nodded, lips pressed to a thin line. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

Hiccup felt a hint of awkwardness rise between them. “I got some more questions, actually. What's the job like?”

Tony looked up, eyebrows lowered in confusion. “The job?”

“Being a superhero who saves the world now and then?”

“Oh!” Tony laughed, “Oh, it's alright I suppose. I mean we get left alone pretty much as long as we don't screw up, then we die.”

“I see,” Hiccup said slowly, “How are the hours? And what about vacation? Do they give you days off? And when you do take them, do you get paid?”

Tony laughed openly at her questions, clutching his stomach. “I guess so? We don’t get paid at all, actually. Because it’s not a real job. They just put us together and say, ‘Go save the world’ and we have no other choice because we live in it. And for those of us who are not employed, it’s a constant vacation until something comes up.”

The Viking girl seemed a bit surprised at that, “If you don’t get paid, how do you afford all your stuff?”

“I pay for almost everything, actually. Sam has a job, he’s like a- uh, counselor, I think? He helps people who are having troubles with… do you know what PTSD is?”

Hiccup shook her head.

“Well, it’s a Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. It’s a mental disorder that can develop after a person is exposed to a traumatic event, like being in a war, or attacked, or physically hurt by someone. They can have disturbing feelings, or dreams related to the events. Sam helps them get through that. He’s a person you can talk to about that and he gives you advice and support.”

Hiccup’s eyebrows raised. They didn’t have someone like that back at Berk. Talking about your problems wasn’t really a Viking thing to do, it wasn’t tough or like a ‘Real Viking’. So, they kept most things in. Perhaps Bucket should go talk to someone like that, or maybe he was a lost cause.

“Then there’s Steve, the Captain, he served in the army almost seventy years back, you get paid for serving in the army, and then he went into the ice for seventy years. But he was technically never relieved of duty post-World War II, so he qualified for back-pay. Long story short: Cap is about a millionaire now.” Upon Hiccup’s again confused face he added, “That means he’s very, very rich. He gave a lot away to charities, but he still got some to live on. Pretty funny if you asked me, I actually helped him getting that money from the government. It was hilarious.”

The mechanic thought deeply for a moment, “My friend Rhodey, also an Avenger, still works in the army, so he has a job too. My girlfriend, Pepper, is the boss of my company, uh… I guess since Natasha and Clint work with SHIELD they get paid for that job… they’re like spies and stuff. But we don’t get paid for saving the world.”

“And what about if you get hurt, what then? Do you have a healer?”

A healer? Oh, like a doctor, Tony assumed. “Actually, we got a bunch of those. One of them is my favorite, Cho, she's an incredibly smart, savvy woman, but with a gentle touch.”

She shot him a jealous glance. “Ugh, I see. We only have one healer and she does _not_ have a gentle touch. She's like opposite of gentle, anti-gentle. She's like a– a hurter, not a healer.”

Tony laughed but Hiccup looked deadly serious, “No, really! She just has this big stick and... man can that little woman swing it.”

“Yikes, that sounds awful.”

Hiccup chuckled and looked up at the sky. The sun had long reached its top point and was now slowly descending again.

“Your team sounds like an interesting bunch,” Hiccup smiled.

“They are…” Tony sighed softly, happy when he thought about his family back home. It pained him to have to keep this from them, but Hiccup didn’t want to meet the others, because she feared for Toothless’ safety. She wanted to get to know this world first, then go interact with the people she almost killed.

If those people had been normal people, she probably would have gone sooner, but because they all had freaky superpowers she didn’t dare. And there were even more people like them, as Tony had just told her. One big team of advanced people, and she had angered all of them.

Well… all but one.

“You know,” Tony spoke up, “I’m still not entirely understanding how we’re speaking the same language. I mean, we’re both speaking English right now.”

“English? Where I come from, we call it Standard. It’s not the only language, but the one most spoken.”

“Oh, okay. But how? How do we know the same words?”

Hiccup smiled slightly, “There is a story about that. Many, many years ago, the Allfather Odin, came on a visit to Ljósfold, together with his sons, Loki and Thor. The Asgardians taught the people their language – Standard – and culture and displayed their abilities; this caused the Ljósfoldian people to believe the Asgardians to be deities, and bestowed upon Thor the moniker ‘God of Thunder’ while Loki became the ‘God of Mischief’ due to the various tricks and illusions Loki displayed. Later, they did the same on Midgard.”

“Huh, so I have to thank Thor for speaking English?” Tony joked.

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“I’ll be sure to do that the next time I see him.”

Toothless bounced at her, purring and gurgling, Hiccup laughed. “What is it, bud? You wanna go for a flight? You do, don’t you?”

He whined, turning to stand with his side toward her and his head up to look at the sky. She looked at Tony, “You want to go for another flight?”

Tony grinned widely, “Oh hell yeah, meet you up there!”

 

* * *

 

The clouds were like puffs of fluffy joy, ready to disperse into the wind, to travel the Earth. She watched them eddy, pure reflected rays dappled and swirling with sky, until all that remained was that perfect baby-blue with shades of a vague white, so beautiful, as if inviting those born of wing to come fly the heaven-bound, warm thermal air above.

The jet-black dragon and its rider took that invitation, and they rose up into the air, keeping the green expanse of the forest below them. At first, she had been able to determine one tree from the other, but now she only saw a roof of green, moving oh so gently in the wind.

She pressed the pedal, causing the tail to flare. They rolled off into an arcing bank, gloriously lit by the late afternoon sun and the beautiful blue sky around them. Hiccup tucked tight against his neck, thrilled about the flight. Every flight was like her first, and she would never get enough of the feeling.

Tony appeared beside them, flying up too. He was again in his yellow and red suit, spewing fire from his hands and boots. Repulsors, she remembered him calling them.

“Parkour?” he asked, pointing down at the trees and large rock columns. Hiccup smiled widely, nodding eagerly. Toothless threw his head up, letting a happy wail out into the air. Then he dove down, Tony following closely.

 

* * *

 

They banked hard around the corner of a large rock column. “Come on, bud!”

The dragon pressed his wings against his side, diving down into the forest, barely avoiding getting hit by a tree. They flew underneath a large branch, Hiccup could just duck her head before she hit it. They weaved from side to side, occasionally looping to dodge large branches and high rocks. They rose again, Toothless rolling onto his side to circle around another rock column, wings spread out far.

It was amazing how it seemed like they were sharing the same brain. Two different creatures, two different bodies, two sets of eyes, yet they were responding and reacting to the slight shift of weight, the tense of muscle and the twitch of skin on skin. Hiccup only needed to lean to the side this slightly, and Toothless would immediately react, knowing exactly what she wanted.

Hiccup moved easily to the rhythm of the dragon’s movement. She felt the muscular little body beneath her bunch momentarily, then Toothless broke into a faster pace. The wind rushed past Hiccup’s ears as she leaned forward over the dragon’s neck, encouraging him to even greater speed. Toothless’ ears pricked upward in response and he went even faster than before.

He was like the wind. His long wings were a blur of motion as he carried the girl at full speed toward the edge of the trees. Gently, Hiccup pressed her knee to the dragon’s side. Instantly, Toothless veered to the left, racing away from the trees at an angle.

The dragon rolled in the air, going up a few feet before dropping right down again. Tony sped along their left side, spinning and turning with them. She smiled at him. He gave a little wave before he pulled up, shooting towards the right, passing Hiccup and Toothless.

Toothless hummed and quickly followed, letting his speed increase to get right back alongside the metal suit, curious to what direction they were heading. Hiccup tucked in low, holding on tight. They stayed behind the metal man, as he seemed to be leading them somewhere.

They flew across tree tops, sometimes sweeping low, sometimes going high. They were out and riding the thermals above the forest as if in a graceful dance. Their black and red bodies soared across the skies. The silver linings of the clouds were being sliced by vast, beautiful wings and a suit of metal. Their figures stood prominent in the darkening sky above, with only small pockets of clouds to hide them. They were Birds in the Sky.

They swiftly glide through the calm breeze showing off the variety of colors their hide was made from, black for Toothless and red-and-gold for Tony. They swooped and did tricks in mid-air reassured that their wings would hold them fast. Their flight was calm, not hasty or filled with sharp turns or tricks. They seemed content with gliding on the thermals, and enjoying the sight around them.

Both dragon and rider were curious to where Tony was leading them. She hadn’t left anything at her campsite; she came here with barely anything. All that she had was in her saddlebag and that hung on Toothless’ side. And she had kicked out the campfire she had made, plus erased their tracks before they left.

When Tony checked his pace to fall back to the dragon’s side, the sun had dipped low to the horizon. The dragon was a silhouette against the orange-kissed heavens. Only an hour ago he was a dark spot against a light sky, but the twilight was advancing and soon they would be lost in blackness.

“Tony!” Hiccup called out, hoping the other could hear her, “Where are we going? It’s getting dark.”

“Just wait, we’re almost there,” Tony answered, flying a little lower.

“Almost where?”

He dived down, soaring across tree tops. Toothless pinned his ears and snorted, rustling his wings a bit before he went after the man in the metal suit.

The treetops reached high above the ground, touching the sky they flew in. The thin branches swayed easily, translucent green leaves flapping around uncontrollably when both iron suit and dragon passed by.

In the distance, Hiccup saw the end of the forest. The edge where trees suddenly stopped. Why were they going to the edge of the forest? Was something there? Another dragon, perhaps? Tony passed the last treetops and flew lower, beginning to circle around something big. Toothless circled after him, both dragon and rider getting a good look on what was down there.

She saw some sort of structure, at the edge of the forest, just beside the tree line.

It was… a cottage?

The cottage looked as if it was straight out of a fairytale with a happy ending or a picture book for little kids.

As she got closer, the occasional flash of color - some blues, others green or brown - emerged from the dark brown wood that looked like eyes trying to steal a glimpse of the world. It seemed alive and welcoming, a warm ribbon of smoke rising from the chimney. The walls were all made of the same dark wood. The cottage was the only thing there. There were no other houses around it.

The cottage seemed to be built up from lots of logs, as it was a rather big house. And it looked stunning. The cottage had two stories, and the upper story had a… balcony? What? They didn’t have those at home. It also had a porch at the front, with a bench with pillows before a hole in the wall? Was that glass? A glass window? They did not have those at Berk either, they didn’t really use ‘glass’, and definitely not to make windows. It wasn’t strong enough.

The roof had a grey color and was made of a material Hiccup did not realize. Tony went down to land on the grass before the porch, stepping out of his suit. He looked up at Hiccup and gestured her to come down too, as she was still hovering in the air.

Toothless came down, flaring out his wings to land lightly on the grass next to Tony. Hiccup stepped of, stretching her arms out above her to make her muscles pop.

“Tony, what’s this?” she asked then, not quite sure why they were here.

The man seemed to get a bit red, and he looked away for a moment… ashamed? He didn’t answer.

“Tony,” she said again, her voice a bit lower. This wasn’t a trap, was it? Were there people waiting inside? Had he drawn her out here? Were his friends inside, enemies? Did she have to leave.

“This is one of my houses, I told you I have a lot, and I’d… uh, I mean, if you want… It’s yours, if you need a house to stay.” He awkwardly rubbed the nape of his neck.

Hiccup’s eyes widened. “You lured me here to get me to stay!” she said, a little harsher than she meant. Tony seemed to cower a little at her tone, his brown eyes looking up slightly anxious. Not quite the reaction she’d expected.

It made her realize, just how many times had a gift of him been rejected? How many times had _he_ been rejected? This was not what she meant, or what she wanted to archive. She had to say something light and airy, quick.

“I’m kinda impressed,” she added, letting a smile play along her lips.

With the same speed as a candle was blown out, Tony visibly relaxed and his enthusiasm seemed to return. “So, you’re not… mad?”

“Well, I have to say I did not expect this, but it’s pretty.” Before he could say anything, she held her hand up to silence him, “But Tony… I can’t stay. I don’t feel comfortable taking advantage of you.”

His eyes widened slightly, “What? No! You’re not! Not taking advantage of me. I’m offering, remember? You can stay here if you’d like, I never come here anyways. I let people use it as a place to relax if they’re entirely burned out. I let them, and their family stay here for a while, to enjoy nature and to charge their batteries.”

Hiccup raised an eyebrow. Tony let out a breathy chuckle.

“It means that they’re resting to get their strength back. And I figured… you could use it. I know you don’t want to use it, that you don’t feel comfortable doing that. But I don’t feel comfortable leaving you out in the forest. You don’t know anyone here, you don’t know the people, the terrain, the villages. It’s not safe. Yes, you have Toothless… but c’mon.”

She sighed softly, her hand enclosing her bicep.

“Hiccup, please. For me? So I can sleep better at night knowing you are safe from poachers or Iron Birds or the army, or all at once. You don't have to be out here alone anymore.”

“Tony, please, just let this go. I’ve been fine on my own before, and I’ll be fine now.”

“But you sleep on the ground!”

She raised her eyebrows. She had mentioned it to Tony when he had wondered out loud where she slept at her camp in the woods. When she told him he was not amused and thought she was joking. She said she did it all the time, sleeping on the ground was nothing new to her. She was used to it.

And right after that, Tony strongly suggested NOT to drink the water from the rivers and lakes. Said you could get incredibly sick from it, because humans kinda ruined nature. Here, in the deep forest, the water was clearer and cleaner, but still he didn’t really advice it.

“Yes, I do, and I don’t mind,” she said.

Tony made a vague gesture with his hands, “Just- it’s nothing permanent. I’ll get you some provisions and catch up. You can see how you like it.”

Toothless walked closer at the house, sniffing the logs and stepping onto the porch. He did not seem to dislike it, on the contrary. He sniffed at the cushions on the couch, and purred. He turned back to her to croon at her, looking happy. “Toothless seems to like it,” she said, more to herself than to Tony. But he answered to it anyway,

“Inside it’s even better. Let's head there, for a quick look around.”

“You're not gonna give up, are you?” Hiccup couldn’t suppress the small smile.

“Not likely.”

“Alright then, show me the way.”

Tony clapped his hands fast, a touch too giddy to show her. “You're gonna love it!”

  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that it took a while! I was away with school on camp, it was pretty fun. But here's a new chapter! Hope you enjoyed it! Next chapter Hiccup is going to learn a whole lot more about Midgardian Technology.


	19. Sweet Terrific Home

The large cottage was welcoming from the open door to the wide, yet short, hallway. The floor was a parquet with a blend of deep homely browns and the walls were the same dark brown as the outside of the walls, meeting a white baseboard.

Tony opened a door at their right side and he led her to another room. The living room, she assumed. There was a middle-sized carpet on the floor that looked like wool painted in the colors and patterns of the inside of a tree. Many uneven circles. It looked pretty. There were benches, small tables, cabinets, chairs and more.

The wooden framed sash windows were propped open and Hiccup could see the front garden through them. It smelled a lot like wood inside, and to Hiccup, it was nicely familiar and comforting. It smelled a little bit like home. Well, minus the smoke, sweat, burned meat and leather scents. And in this house, there was a pungent under-scent type of thing, something Hiccup could not quite place.

It was dim inside, the light coming through the windows not being enough to light up the whole place. Why wasn’t there a fireplace in the middle of the house? Or torches on the wall? She spotted a fireplace inside the wall, but she didn’t see any wood lying inside or around it. Then, as she squinted her eyes a bit at the large pieces of fabric that hung from the furthest wall, she noticed the large, square hole behind it. What? Or… was that glass? It was probably glass. Why was there a window reaching from the ground almost to the ceiling?

“And then there was… light!” Tony pressed on something on the wall and Hiccup heard a soft click. Then suddenly, light emerged from the walls, illuminating the room. She jumped back startled, looking around frantically to find the source of the light. Where were the torches? She didn’t see any. No fire. And how could Tony have lit them up all at once?

“How did you do that?”

She turned around, meeting Tony at the wall. He showed her some sort of square ‘button’, she didn’t know what exactly it was. It sat almost flush with the wall plate it was on, and a white color. There were multiple next to each other. Hiccup cocked her head to the side a bit, then reached out her hand. One side of the button stuck out more than the other, and she felt the need to press it down. So, she did. She sort of ‘rocked’ the flat, broad lever, feeling it go down as she applied pressure on it. There was a soft click.

At once, the lights went out. Hiccup looked around her amazed, wondering how the torches had gone out all at once, and how it was connected to this button. She saw a set of green eyes light up in the dark, with two large pupils. Toothless. She giggled, and pressed again on the same spot on the button. No click, nothing happened.

“Now you have to press the other side, where the lever sticks out most. Otherwise it doesn’t work,” Tony explained. She moved her fingers to the higher side and pressed.

 _Click_.

Lights on.

_Click_

Lights off.

 _Click_.

Lights on.

 _Click_.

Lights off.

 _Click_.

Lights on.

Hiccup was not even near done yet, but she could see Tony wanted to move on. She wanted to continue, press a few more times but Tony opened his mouth to say something, “Wait here, I’ll show you what we use for light!” He rushed off to another room.

 _Click_.

Lights off.

She giggled, knowing Tony couldn’t see in the other room now. She had turned off the lights, so he was in the dark. But then, the light in the other room suddenly jumped on, even without her pressing the button. And the stranger thing was, the light didn’t go on in _this_ room, only in _that_ one. Huh?

“There is more than one light switch!” Tony called from the other room, “Try the others next to it!”

Oh. Hiccup pressed the other light switch, and suddenly the light in another room jumped on. Hiccup pressed the button next to that, the light in this room turned on. She pressed the third, the light in Tony’s room shut off.

“Hiccup!”

She laughed again, pressing the same button once more to turn the light back on.

“Thank you!”

Tony rushed back inside, coming towards Hiccup.

“I present to you, the light bulb!” Tony showed her a glass bulb. It wasn’t very big, nor did it look like much. Yet this thing gave them all this light and worked by pressing those buttons. So, Hiccup still eagerly took it from him and watched it thoroughly. It was cold and smooth in her hands. And off. She frowned and shook it. Nothing happened.

She pressed the buttons on the wall, the lights in the rooms went on but the light bulb in her hand stayed dead.

“It’s not doing anything.”

“Oh, that’s because it’s not connected to a socket.”

Tony immediately realized his mistake and smiled apologetically. Of course, Hiccup had no idea what a ‘socket’ was either. How was he going to explain this in the easiest language possible?

“Okay so, you got lightning, right? Lightning is electricity, or in other words, it’s energy. Yeah? Well, we’ve learned to capture that energy, and store it, to later use it. You see that thing over there?”

Tony pointed at something in the wall. It was like a little, white square with two holes in it. “That’s a socket. Energy can come out through that, and that’s why you never _ever_ just push a random thing inside, not your fingers, not your nose, not a metal rod, _nothing,_ unless I tell you it’s okay, alright?”

Hiccup nodded, no pushing things into the socket, got it.

“Well, when the light bulb is connected with an energy source, the little wire filament you see through the glass heats up to such a high temperature it starts to glow with visible light. And thus, it lights up the room.”

Her eyes were so wide, and she couldn’t believe what she heard. They captured _lightning_ and used it to power their lights?! Midgardians were incredible. They were so smart and resourceful, they were amazing! It was downright awesome how they could come up with things like this.

“But let’s not dwell on that for too long, here, have a look around.” Tony motioned at the rest of the room. Toothless happily did, stepping towards the carpet, the benches and the tables. Sniffing everything he encountered. His large body and wings sometimes pushed things aside, and Hiccup feared for the vase on one of the low tables.

“Toothless, careful!” she warned, walking closer. The dragon rumbled, shaking his head and his ears perking up. He _was_ careful! It wasn’t _his_ fault all these things stood so close to each other!

As Hiccup took her own look around, she noticed the things that looked like benches against the walls, but they were odd. They seemed to be made out of fabric, instead out of wood. They looked soft, and Hiccup wondered what purpose they served. “What are those?” she asked, pointing at them.

Tony followed her finger, “What? You mean the couch? To sit on, of course!”

“But, that’s fabric.”

“Yeah…? Don’t you have that?”

“Tony, let me tell you one thing. Everything, literally _everything_ , in our village is made of wood. It’s the only thing there is. Plus metal, of course, but wood’s softer.”

Tony looked at her with raised eyebrows, he, as a inhabitant of Earth in the twenty-first century, could not imagine everything being made of wood and metal. And he most certainly could not imagine himself saying ‘I like to sit on wood, because it’s softer than metal!’ No way.

He then walked over at the couch and flopped down on it, motioning her to come too. Hiccup complied, and gingerly sat down next to him. She almost let out a shout when the couch seemed to give in underneath her. It dipped in! She laid her hands next to her, feeling the unusual smooth and soft fabric of the couch. No, they did not have anything like this on Berk. Fabric like this was incredibly rare and expensive.

“Whoa,” she whispered.

“Wait, what do you sleep on?” Tony asked then.

“Uh, beds?”

The other made an impatient gesture, “Yeah duh, but what is your bed made of? What do you sleep on?”

“Wood, what else? We try finding the softest type of wood but that’s not easy.”

Tony stared at the ceiling, lying back on the couch. “Like, I feel so bad for you. We got all these fabrics and soft things, you sleep on wood. Literal wood. That’s not okay. How is your back not sore all the time?”

“Because we’re not as weak as you.”

“ _Ouch_.” Tony laid his hand on the place of his heart and looked as if he was terribly wounded. 

She laughed a bit at her own joke, her gaze gliding still through the room. Upon the wall behind her was a framed drawing of a family, or… drawn? Hiccup looked a little closer, coming up to have a better look. The dragon was crazily realistic, almost as if the people were really instead of a drawing. Maybe it was one of those Midgardian inventions, something that could capture people’s appearance and put it on paper. That would be awesome.

The three people were smiling. A man and a woman of middle-age, before them was standing a child, a young boy. The man had brown hair and a brown mustache, the woman had blonde hair. The child looked somewhat like the man; the same type of messy, brown hair and the same large, brown eyes. A family.

“Who are that?” Hiccup asked, pointing at the drawing-thing.

“Hm?” Tony looked up a bit bored, but as soon as his eyes found the drawing he jumped up, snatching it from the wall. His face turned a mix between pale and red, “No one,” he mumbled, hiding the framed drawing behind his back. He stepped back quickly, somewhat clumsily putting the drawing in a drawer. Hiccup raised an eyebrow, but didn’t ask.

One look at Tony’s doe brown eyes and ruffled hair told her enough. So she just nodded, taking another look around.

“Are you sure we can stay here?” she asked, as she saw Toothless stuffing his nose into the fire place. His tail was wagging softly, tapping against the table and the two humans had to speed at it to prevent the vase falling off. “We’re more than happy with staying outside. I mean, it’s _your_ house, and you don’t know us. Plus I don’t think there’s enough space for Toothless to stay.”

But Tony firmly shook his head, “I’m positive. You can stay for as long as you need. And about Toothless…” He walked at the large pieces of fabric, pulling them aside to show her the glass, with a frame of wood around them. Now she noticed there were two knobs on it. It was an odd sight, almost as if the knobs were floating in the air. Which, of course, they weren’t. They weren’t really knobs either, more like rectangular, metal-like knobs.

Tony grabbed one of them, pulling the door aside. A sliding door? What? He pulled it all the way aside, and then did the same with the other door. They both slid to another side, so there was a large opening in the wall. Toothless pulled his head back from the chimney and churred at the opening. He bounced at it, knocking over a tall, yet small, table over on his way there.

From the doors they had a view of the backyard and the forest behind. Hiccup stepped through the open doors, letting out a chuckle at Toothless’ giddiness. Tony smiled at her, “Nice, huh? You can open these doors whenever you want, and then you can easily go in and out whenever you want, without having to deal with too tight entrances!”

Above the other exit was a sloping eave where one could sit underneath, in the grass. It was a large place, and it seemed to fit Toothless perfectly.

“Yeah… it _is_ very nice. But Tony…” she took a deep breath, “…I still feel uncomfortable asking this from you. It’s not… It’s a lot, you’re doing a lot for us.”

“Hiccup, hush,” Tony said, “Let me do this for you. You’re a literal alien, crashed here with a dragon and with no place to stay. Let me help, please? You need a safe place, and I’m offering one. You’re not taking advantage of me in any way, this is my choice.”

They both smiled at each other.

  

* * *

 

“What’s it made of?” Tony asked, weighing the prosthetic tailfin in his hands. Toothless crooned at him while he did.

Tony was sitting on the ground next to Toothless, who had curled his tail into Tony’s lap so he could take a better look at it. He had been fascinated by the workmanship for a while, but he had never really had the chance to ask about it. Well, he _had,_ but he felt like it was somewhat a touchy subject, since Tony could deduct that without the fin, Toothless couldn’t fly. And thus it was a pretty large weak-point. And he didn’t want to be rude.

“Paper and metal, the typical stuff Vikings work with. How so?”

Tony hummed something back as an answer, taking a good look at the fin. The tail had a large leather saddle pad running down a part Toothless' back. This pad was clipped to two loops of curved metal that ran down and around Toothless' shoulders and front legs in order to keep it attached, secured with wide leather straps. Four lengths of cable made from ropes, two running down each side, allowed Hiccup to adjust the prosthetic tail fin with control stirrups for her feet on either side of the saddle.

The tail fin itself was fan-shaped like a Toothless’ other tailfin, with leather held together by metal rods. He grabbed the edge and flared it out, then tucking it in again.

“This design is… amazing, did you make this?”

“I did, actually. My first one was a simple strap-on, made of leather without all the cables and stirrups. But because it didn’t work, because it needed to be manually steered, I made a saddle to go with it, and after many trial and error, this is my latest version. Like with the Dragon Blade, I’m always finding new ways to improve. For instance, I tinker a lot with different types of tails.”

She went to her saddlebags, and took something out. It was a broken tailfin, a yellow one. The fabric seemed to be torn through and one of the rods was bend a little. She brought it closer to him, squatting down at his side to show him.

“This is my Yellow fin type two. The first one was a spare fin, that was destroyed on my own world, but that’s a really long story. This one is made of a thin sheet of Gronckle Iron, and while this tail is not well suited for long flights, it is perfect for gliding stealthily under a boat's sightline for a sneak attack. Or to come for without any wing flap. We used it in the desert, to glide along with the river.”

She laid it down next to him, and Tony picked it up. “It feels a bit heavy,” he noted.

“Yeah. Though Gronckle Iron is very light, I needed some extra material to fasten it to the other parts, and to Toothless’ tail. That’s why with that tail, we always have a slight deviation to the side of the prosthesis, because that side is a bit heavier.”

The mechanic nodded, turning the tailfin in his hand and giving it a good look. The black silhouette of a Night Fury was painted on it.

“Can I borrow this? I want to take a good look at it in my lab. If you’re okay with it, of course.”

She nodded back, “Yeah, sure. No problem.”

Tony took another good look at Toothless’ tail, laying the Yellow fin down next to him. He watched the real fin, how it moved and was secured to the tail with flesh and sinews. The fake fin was secured to the tail with a leather piece that all the rods were connected to. That leather part molded perfectly against the shape of the tail, and with two straps at the beginning and the end it was fastened.

Some improvement ideas started to form in Tony’s head. How to make the tail even better. So maybe the whole system could be made lighter, or more similar to the weight of the other tailfin. He tapped on his watch, and scanned the real fin, then weighed it in his hand. FRIDAY stored the data for him. He looked at the real fin, then at the fake one. He moved the fake one, feeling it move and twist. Maybe…

“Have you ever tried… I don’t know… a fin that doesn’t need this whole system?” Tony asked.

Hiccup was silent for a moment, then, “Yes, I have. It worked perfectly.”

“What happened to it.”

“Toothless didn’t want it. He destroyed it.”

Tony nodded a bit. Then laid the fin down. He looked up at Hiccup, asking then, “Tea?”

 

* * *

 

“Hm, your tea _is_ very similar to that of ours!” Hiccup said, taking a sip. The water was boiling hot, but the beverage tasted about the same. A little different, but still familiar. She was once again blown off her feet when Tony showed her a machine that boiled water in a few seconds, just by putting water in the machine and pressing a button.

“Glad to hear! At least _something_ is familiar here. We got lots of tea, actually. Take whatever flavor you want. Or coffee, of course, if you prefer that?”

“What’s coffee?”

Tony’s eyes grew about twice their size and he looked shocked to the bone. “You’ve never even had _coffee_ before? You poor thing! I will show you! I have the best coffee beans in my other house, I’ll take some for you!”

“Aww, thank you, Tony.”

“No problem.”

There was a short silence where they both took sips of their hot cup of steaming tea. They both knew they still had so many questions for each other, but neither could think of one at the moment. There was just too much. But then Tony thought of one, a pretty normal question.

“How old are you, actually? I was just wondering?” Tony asked.

Hiccup took a sip from the warm tea before answering, a bit hesitant, “In Midgardian years, I would be… about a hundred-twenty-four years old, but-”

Tony choked in his tea, quickly putting down the cup and coughing loudly. “Excuse me- what?!”

Hiccup patted him on the back, trying clumsily to help him while he coughed and coughed. “Yeah, time works different on Ljósfold. We’re very similar to humans, can even be called humans, but because we live on a different planet, we are different from you in some aspects. You actually don’t really count the hundred, so on Midgard I’m just twenty-four.”

“Aha,” Tony said, taking a large gulp of air, “In the peak of your life!”

“Yeah, kinda?”

_Beep, beep, beep._

Tony pulled out his phone and looked at the screen. He sighed gloomily.

“Bad news?”

“Yeah, I have to go.” He dramatically rolled his eyes at that and sighed again. “Duty calls, you’ll be okay here?”

Hiccup nodded, “Definitely. I think I’m going to spend the next few days gawking at all the stuff around here. I have never seen most of these things before, it’s amazing and even kinda scary how I recognize so little. But I’m very intrigued about your culture.”

She sent him a smile, “Go, we’ll be okay.”

Tony winked at her and said bye to Toothless before he walked out. He got into his suit and with a last wave he took off.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's not much, and it took me a while... but I still hope it's not that bad. Next chapter there's gonna be some Avengers heheheh.


	20. The Call of Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint gets attacked, more information about the New Party and the desert monsters.

Clint walked into the kitchen at Stark Tower. It was the middle of the night and he was certain everyone else was asleep. Even Tony seemed to have fallen asleep, after coming back late in the evening and not wanting to say where he’s been, most likely drooling on his invention table surrounded by StarkPads and books. He sure had the time of his life doing whatever he did with Person Unknown, though Tony said he ‘wasn’t hanging out with anyone’ and he ‘just wanted some time alone’. Sure, Tony. Sure. We’ll meet your side-chick when you’re ready.

Tony had been doing this whole thing with dragons and stuff, trying to find a way to get them to leave. Clint actually didn't care much about _how_ Loki and Tony did it, he just wanted to bring the dragons back to their own dimension.

And to make matters just a bit worse, when Fury said 'he had other things to do', he meant flying to fucking _Cairo_ in _Egypt_ for some dumb reason. Like what the fuck?! What was there to find in an endless desert? Just sand and… more sand. How could he _leave_ them in a time like this? That was just preposterous! Luckily Coulson was still around. Clint liked Coulson, he was always nice to him and gave him compliments. Unlike other people... 

He walked over to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water. His hand went to the leftover pizza slices from yesterday, but he stopped himself, he was saving it for tomorrow. He already had a lot of pizza and if he saved it he could enjoy it tomorrow too. Besides, midnight snacks weren’t really healthy and a good thing to do. So, he put a post-it notes on top of it that said 'FROM CLINT' instead and closed the fridge again. He better not find it gone tomorrow.

He and Natasha had come home rather late too after trying to find the friend of the cousin of the man working underneath the Gang Leader of which one worked at the docks and he had a cousin who had a friend who they were looking for… or something. They had ruffled some feathers but didn't get anything. The man killed himself with cyanide hidden in a loose tooth. And yes, they were aware that the man killed himself the exact same way HYDRA agents killed themselves. 

The man wasn’t from the New Party (they really had to come up with a name, ‘The New Party’ was really vague), and everyone else they did interrogate couldn’t tell them anything because there was nothing to tell. There was simply _nothing_ to tell. The New Party operated like a ghost and spread like a disease. Maybe they should call it ‘the Ghosts’, or the ‘Ghost Disease’.

He opened the bottle and took a sip, entering the living room again. 

He was returning to his nest which too was in the living room, it was a space specially made for him by Tony in the HQ, as some sort of loft. It was big enough for him to stand in. It was right above the door of the entrance, so he could watch everyone who came in. It was camouflaged surprisingly good. He had good sight on all the doors from there, also he could see the whole living room plus kitchen plus elevators. It was almost impossible to see it if you didn't know what you were looking for. 

Clint liked his nest, it was private, and he could watch everything. He was just about to climb up to his nest (there were a few conveniently placed sockets sticking from the wall for Clint to stand on as he climbed up) when FRIDAY spoke up. 

"Mr. Barton, someone I cannot identify has entered the building, should I warn the others?" 

Clint stepped off the first socket, back to the ground, his face still facing the wall. "No Friday let them sleep. I'll check it out."

Clint turned around and looked right into one emerald and one icy blue eye, which seemed to glow in the dark. The water bottle he still had been holding in his hand fell to the ground. Luckily it was closed, so there was just a dull thud instead of water splashing all over the ground.

"Hello, Mr. Barton," the man said.

Clint backed down immediately to create more space between him and the stranger, but after two steps he felt his back bump against the wall. Simply great. The man took two steps too, closer to Clint until they almost stood nose to nose. 

"Sir?" Clint asked, kind of freaked out by the sudden appearance of this man. Was he the person who FRIDAY couldn’t identify? But how did he get here so fast?

“Hello,” he answered, and he gave Clint an unsettling smile.

They stood like that in silence for a little while. Seconds passed, and Clint felt more uncomfortable with each one of them. Why was this man standing so close to him? Why did he sneak up on Clint? Why was he here in the middle of the night? Clint cleared his throat, tapping his foot as if that would make the awkwardness go away.

“So,” the archer said eventually, “Who are you? Anything I can help you with?”

The man smiled again. To Clint’s relief the man stepped away from him, then he walked at the window and opened the curtains in one, swift movement. Clint walked at him, curious to what the man had to say or what he was doing. The stranger stepped back from the window and looked at the clear, with stars dotted sky.

“My name is Jack, Jack Tyler. I’m a security agent of SHIELD, so to speak. Here’s my badge.”

The man held up a SHIELD security badge and Clint felt a little less uneasy. But still. This was some strange dude. The way he talked was odd, ‘Here’s my badge’.

“I have something to ask, if I may?”

Clint stood next to him and looked at the stars too. He nodded.

“I am not sure if you have obtained the knowledge of the existence of a newfound organization, recently started and working its way up in the ‘crime world’ so to speak. I believe they are a branch of the Ten Rings.”

Clint’s eyes narrowed at the sky. “I do. But how the hell did _you_ know of that?”

This man, Jack or whatever, was _not_ supposed to know, it was nothing of his business and Fury had urged Clint and Natasha to keep it a secret. It was top secret. That New Party was only known in the crime world, as it moved swiftly and was quiet as a mouse.  They didn’t make any risky moves, they didn’t do terrorist attacks, they weren’t loud and never made the news.

And to be honest, SHIELD had no idea what they owned or where they were. They were out there somewhere, but that was where their intel stopped. It didn’t have top priority as the organization was still new, just starting, but they wanted to eliminate potential terrorist organizations before they had the chance to evolve into something bigger and more dangerous.

“I have my resources,” Jack continued, “I believe I am able to give you a hand in taking down this new organization. I ‘want in on it’, so to speak. Would you be so kind to share your found information and dossiers with me?”

Clint almost burst out in laughter when he heard that coming from the man’s mouth. Was he totally nuts? Of course, Clint would _never_ share those files with him! That was – that was crazy! Why was he interested anyway? It was none of his business! He was a security agent, not a high-classified top spy such as Clint. The archer sure as hell wasn’t going to provide him this classified information.

“No,” Clint said simply.

Jack side-glanced him. “No?” he repeated.

The archer turned towards him, “No. I will not give you that information. Not that it’s any of your business anyway. Shouldn’t you be busy guarding, or something? I don’t even know why you’re here. Should I call Happy?”

He wanted to walk away, but before he could Jack grabbed his shoulder, pushed him roughly against the wall and covered his mouth with his hand, damn sharp fingernails were digging into his cheek. 

"No," Jack shushed, "we do _not_ want to wake up the others. I want that intel."

Fuck. Was Jack part of this New Party? Was that why he had been asking? Fuck, fuck, fuck. This was _so_ bad. Whatever was happening, Jack was threatening him and obviously wasn’t on the side of the Avengers. Because he attacked. SHIELD should really double check who they were hiring because this was just embarrassing.

If Clint had been an ordinary person, someone walking through their house and suddenly being surprised by a stranger, he would stay quiet as Jack had requested. But he wasn't an ordinary person, he was a frigging assassin with mad fighting skills, and he had two free hands. 

It was Jack’s right hand covering his mouth, so he grabbed Jack’s arm with his left hand, pulling him to the left, then raising his own right hand to punch the man in the face. Jack staggered back a bit, giving Clint the space to raise his foot from the ground and kick him back a few feet. 

"I think I do. Friday!" Clint called out.

Jack growled, making Clint raise his eyebrows. Jack sprang forward and bombarded into the archer, knocking him to the floor hard and painfully.

Clint couldn't breathe when he hit the floor, the stranger knocking the wind from his lungs. He felt himself bang against the ground, frozen for a second, then the pain started to trickle through. He couldn't help but squeeze his eyes tight and a pain-filled grunt left with his thin breath. Then his eyes snapped open to reveal Jack glaring down at him, angry.

It raised its arm high – knife in hand – aiming for Clint's neck, but before it could make a deadly hit, Clint quickly rose his free arm and blocked his attack. "What are you doing, man?" Clint cracked, almost no air left. Jack growled again and pushed down on the knife.

Clint gathered all of the strength he had in his body and used it to keep the knife away. Then he used his free knee to kick the man in the groin, knowing it would hurt him. Clint pushed the other off him towards his feet, twisting the blade out of his hand and sending it skidding across the floor.

When Jack wanted to jump back on top of him, Clint kicked him in his face to force him back and quickly got up his feet. He backed down and desperately tried to get some new air in his lungs. Where the fuck were the others?! 

"You know, I didn't even have some coffee before this," Clint said, "Come on man, what are you doing? You really wanna blow your job at SHIELD for some dumb organization?"

To be honest, Clint knew nothing about this man, who he was or why he was doing what he did. But he did know that he didn’t want to die yet so a little bit of stalling would never hurt.  

Jack narrowed his eyes a bit. "SHIELD..." he repeated, like he had no idea what that was (which was strange considering he had been talking about it earlier), then he grinned. "SHIELD is _nothing_ compared to us.”

Now it was Clint's turn to narrow his eyes, who the hell was this dude and what was that other organization? Maybe he _was_ from that New Party. The Ghost Disease! While Clint was confused for a second, Jack attacked again. Clint raised his foot and kicked the man in front of him in the stomach, stopping his attack briefly. 

He then leaned back to dodge a swipe from the knife. Jack jumped forward, Clint swung his fist, but Jack dived underneath it, then catching him from behind. Clint could feel the heat of the man’s breath against his ear. He didn't think that man’s breath would smell like mint or lavender or something fresh. But this was the rancid scent of death. Did this dude  _eat_ his enemies?! 

Before Jack had any chance to tear out his throat, Clint elbowed his ribs and it released him; doubling over to clutch its stomach, giving the archer the time to turn around and give him another good punch to force him back.

Clint took a brief pause to take a breath. "Friday!" he called out. "Friday where are the others?!"

There was no answer, and it was seriously worrying Clint. Jack laughed. "Your little device can't hear you. I disabled it for as long as I need, so sucks for you, so to speak."

Again, Clint narrowed his eyes, and he took a good look at the stranger. There was something weird going on. First the sneaking up on him, then sudden change of heart and now this weird choice of words. He had spoken so fancy before and now he said, ‘sucks for you’. And there was a lot ‘so to speak’. What was that all about?

It was then that Jack suddenly jumped at him and grabbed him by his throat, cutting of his air, using all his weight to push the archer back down on the floor.

Clint gasped, trying to get some oxygen into his body, but Jack only squeezed tighter, his eyes gleaming at the sight of the poor archer writhing as he suffocated.

Clint forced himself to smile, but it disappeared again when Jack squeezed harder, growling. "Your luck runs out. And I'll watch the life leave your body!" He laughed. His grip was tight (and those abnormal sharp nails were digging into his throat, did this guy file his nails into claws or something?), but not completely blocking his airway, Clint could still take in little sucks of air. He could kill Clint here and now, but he didn't, why?

Clint's fingers tried to pry the man’s hands away, but they were like a vise around his throat. He tried kicking up his legs, but he could barely raise them. All he could do was writhe helplessly. He raised one of his arms up at Jack’s face, maybe to poke his eyes out or something, anything. But the other was so much taller, he couldn't reach it. 

Clint's gaze glided around, looking for something, anything that could help him. Black spots danced before his eyes, and he started to feel lightheaded.

His eyes caught Jack’s knife, on the floor and on his right side. 

He could hear his own pounding heartbeat in his ears, fog appeared in his head, but he forced himself to concentrate at the blade.

_It was just another day in a chaotic weird life._

Clint stretched out for the blade, trying to grab it. He stretched himself out as far as he could, but that wasn't easy without air.

_Just another day where he was fighting some random terrorist._

His head pounded and no air in his lungs, not good. He stretched every cell to touch the hilt of the blade. Come on! His fingers still reached, playing with the hilt, but the more he tried to pull it towards him, the more it got pushed away. The blade was so close, but yet so far. If only he could reach it...

But just has he was about to reach it, his middle and index finger clamping the hilt between them, his hand went numb and he couldn't see due to the lack of oxygen. His eyes drooped, and his hand fell down. 

He felt his head being turned to face Jack above him again. He vaguely saw Jack’s face grinning down on him. His eyes rolled back into his head, only the white showing. But this white had some black hues in it. _Oh my fucking God…_

Clint kicked his legs in the air, but it had no use. The white eyes seemed to spread further, getting bigger. Black veins trailed underneath the man’s pale skin that turned a sickly white-yellow color. Clint saw a blur on the man’s face, as if it was vibrating really fast. He saw two huge eyes, white, and… teeth. So many teeth. Too many teeth to fit in a mouth.

This wasn't a human, or a security guard, this was something completely else, he realized now. Sadly, it was too late. Too late that he realized this wasn’t a good person. This wasn’t a human. _Oh God_ , this wasn’t a human. He didn't know what this thing was or what it was going to do. Killing him?

One hand released his throat but still he couldn’t breathe, because of the other. With sharp claws the thing on top of him ripped through the fabric of his shirt, exposing his chest, the nails slicing through some flesh as if they were thin razors. Goddammit! That hurt! The thing laid its hand down over Clint’s heart. Some black, yellow goo climbed down the man’s arm from the shoulder, covering the sleeve and eventually the hand.

This was it. He couldn't move, couldn't fight, couldn't even lift a damn finger. He hated it to feel this helpless. It was a stupid thing to think, but he wished he had eaten the pizza. Now who was gonna eat it? Poor pizza. He tried turning his head away but the hand around his throat kept it in place. God, this was so disgusting and wrong. He looked into the thing’s eyes and saw little, black drops were spilling from them, but they weren’t tears. The structure was too thick and syrupy.

He didn’t get much time to think about the stuff spilling from the thing’s eyes, as he felt something sting in his chest, but not a painful sting. It was a kind of odd sting. The sting that let you know you were still alive in a world filled with hurt, the sting that let you know you were still in the real world.

An ice-cold feeling spread through his chest. It was as if the thing was dousing his heart in ice water, but colder. It was weird, what was that thing doing? Shouldn’t he be dead already? He had no air, so his heart and brain should have given up by now. Clint tried moving again, his hand moved an inch he thought, or maybe just the tips of his fingers moved. The feeling of nails digging into his chin and throat slowly fade to exist. He felt nothing. Just the painful heart throbbing that came up. His heart was pounding so hard he thought it to be a miracle it hadn’t jumped out of his chest yet.

The black drops spilling from the thing’s eyes dripped onto Clint’s face and he almost threw up. He raised his arm from the floor a tiny bit. The black drops felt cold and slimy on his face, absolutely disgusting. The monster on top of him pushed down more weight on him and Clint's arm fell down again. The black goo from the hand and arm was pushing its way down through Clint’s skin… somehow.

The thing didn’t even remotely look like Jack anymore. It looked extremely sick and half decayed. Its skin letting loose from its face. Skin black as night and thick with slime all over it came into vision underneath the decaying skin. A piece of the thing’s cheek splashed down to the ground way too close to Clint’s head. _God!_ He closed his eyes, so he didn’t have to see it. This was shapeshifting next level. Its skin was literally falling off. So gross. The mouth was open and big, so big. There were so many pointy teeth, and a huge tongue that slowly made its way out the mouth.

He was going to die.

A high-pitched, angry screech made his eyes open again, just a crack. Slimy drops splashing onto his cheeks made him close them again and move his head slightly. Another screech came from above him, with a growl. Then, along with a grunt, there was a sudden free-flow of air. Fresh, delicious air.

That thing had released his throat.

Clint’s hands went for his chest, rubbing up and down from his collarbone to the end of his ribs, feeling something else slimy on the place of his heart. _God no, ew_. He lifted his head up slightly and looked at his chest. His eyes widened as he saw the same black goop as from the thing’s skin lying on him.

He immediately clawed at it, pulling it away from his heart. It was sticky and a part of it refused to let go so he stretched it out, like slime from a bottle, like melted cheese on a pizza slice. He clawed the rest away too and threw it next to him. A part of it disappeared into his chest and he felt bile push up his throat. He looked at his hands and through blurred vision he saw they were smeared red. Had to be from the cuts in his chest.

There was a loud, pain-filled screech and he heard the loud sound of shattering glass, it made his head hurt so he dropped it back to the floor. It was silent again, his blood rushed in his ears. With the sucks of air, he got his vision became less black and the pounding in his ears died down.

Footsteps came over to him. He didn't know who had saved him, but if he could move again he was definitely hugging his person so tight they were the one who couldn't breathe.

He heard a voice above him, shouting one thing over and over again, like a name. It was a deep, gruff voice. He felt two hands on his cheeks, one of the hands felt weird. Not like a human hand, colder and harder, not flesh. But he couldn't put one and one together, he couldn't link it to a person.

He felt arms underneath his knees and back, then he moved up into the air. Someone was carrying him. This person had to be strong. The person told him to hold on, then shouted things to the ceiling. Was there someone on the ceiling? Friday? Who was Friday again? Never mind her because he _lived_. He had help. And he had an unlimited oxygen supply!

He heard more footsteps, and the sound of doors. He was laid down again, on something hard but it wasn't the floor. He heard his name again, this time by different people. He wanted them to stop yelling, he was alive. This was one happy end. Yes, he felt happy.

Until he felt something being put over his mouth. Nope. Not happening. He writhed and with weak arms tried to get the thing off him. Not again, please god not again. Someone gently grabbed his hands.

"Clint, easy Clint, it's okay. It's just an oxygen mask, just for oxygen, you will feel better with this on, more air. It's safe, don't worry."

He had no idea who said it, but it was a woman. He couldn't link the voice to a name, but it did sound familiar, and his soul purred again so he allowed the person to put his arms down on the table and put the oxygen mask over his nose and mouth. It felt like a huge relieve, suddenly breathing became so much easier and he relaxed. Though breathing did hurt. The monster had probably crushed his windpipe.

"That's it, just breathe," the woman said. Clint gave a small nod. The need to hold someone's hand was overwhelming, so he held out his hand a bit, hoping someone would understand what he meant. And someone did. He felt a smaller hand in his, a soft hand, but with a firm grip. It felt comforting.

"I'm here, Clint, I'm here," the woman said.

 

* * *

  

"Out the way, out the way!" Tony called as he made his way through the infirmary, pushing past the others as they stood in silence, watching the sleeping Clint on the table. Doctor Cho was busy with a clear oxygen supply and checking him for injuries.

The others looked up when Loki walked after Tony into the room, also heading straight for Clint. Everyone was there. All the Avengers. Most in pajama, and shivering. Bucky, who had been the one who had ripped the monster – what had been pushing its fucking slime inside Clint’s chest – off Clint and then carried him to the infirmary, calling out to FRIDAY she had to wake up every one immediately, was staring at Clint like as if the moment he blinked Clint would be gone.

The image of Clint lying on the floor, helpless, with something looking like it jumped straight out of his nightmares right on top of him, its slime penetrating Clint’s skin… it made Bucky set his jaw so hard he was almost crushing his teeth.

He couldn’t help it, but after he had seen that thing in the living room he did not take any chances. He blocked the way and looked at both Loki and Tony with dead eyes, ready to kill if necessary. Tony and Loki both stopped. Bucky said nothing, only stared. A few seconds passed before he recognized them as human (sort of) and not a threat or a monster. He slowly took a few steps to the side.

Bucky’s jaw set harder and his hands clenched to fists, looking down at his feet to try and keep his killer instincts under control. It was over, the fight was over. No one in this room was a threat, it was okay. The monster was not here.

Loki reached for the oxygen mask on Clint’s face but now doctor Cho stopped him. “He needs it,” she said. Loki nodded. “I understand, but in order to establish he is not in mortal danger I require a look in his mouth.”

Doctor Cho gently removed the mask from Clint’s face who then frowned. He couched, then gagged a little, and moved his tongue in his mouth as if there was something stuck inside. Loki swallowed thickly. “We have a bit of a situation I’m afraid.”

“Why?” Natasha stepped in.

Loki didn’t answer. He rushed at the sink and quickly washed his hands, he looked over his shoulder at doctor Cho. “Darling, would you be so kind to hold his mouth open for me?”

Doctor Cho looked at him strangely for a second, but then gently moved Clint’s chin down, he did not cooperate. “Clint, honey, you need to hold your mouth open, okay? We’re not gonna hurt you, it’s gonna be okay.”

Clint squirmed a bit on the table, but there was not much he could do. “I will remove what is bothering you from your throat,” Loki said, walking back towards them. Clint opened his eyes further and looked at Loki, a small nod. So, he opened his mouth.

The god then stuck his fingers into Clint’s mouth. Bucky’s eyes became twice their size and Steve had to grab his friend’s arm to prevent him from jumping on top of Loki. Natasha’s grip on Clint’s arm tightened and Tony covered his mouth with his hand. Thor just watched soundlessly, hoping that his brother knew what he was doing. Wanda had her arms tightly crossed before her chest. Sam stood beside Steve on his other side, ready to step in if Bucky would step in. Bruce was tightly clenching his own arm with his hand.

“I nearly got it,” Loki said, his fingers went deeper into Clint’s mouth. Bucky turned around and buried his face in Steve’s shoulder. Steve laid his hand down on Bucky’s back, they got a sympathizing look from Sam.

Wanda suddenly doubled over and made a retching sound. Bucky turned around a bit, a look of shock and disgust spread across his face as he saw what Loki was doing. He wasn’t the only one. Tony covered his mouth with both his hands and Steve had to close his eyes for a few seconds.

Loki was slowly pulling his fingers back from Clint’s mouth, between it he had something clenched. It was so stomach-turning Bruce had to turn away before he would vomit his dinner over everyone.

It was like pulling long hair from the drain of a shower. It was long and wet, but this was covered in goo, and it wasn’t even hair. It looked slimy and Clint gagged as Loki pulled it out of his throat, almost choking in it.

“What the fuck is that,” Tony asked, he pushed his hands against his mouth again. He had seen many sick things in his life but this, this was horrible. The slime strand itself was bad enough, and it was even worse realizing Loki had pulled it from Clint’s throat.

Doctor Cho let go of Clint’s chin and the archer closed it. The doctor put the oxygen mask back over his nose and mouth, then she turned to whatever it was that Loki was holding in his hand. The God scrunched his nose and dumped the strands in a small plastic container doctor Cho was holding ready for him.

“Gross, is it not?” Loki asked.

“What the _fuck_ was that?” Tony asked again.

“It is… a part of an alien. I do not know their name, but I have read about them. Odin once prevented them from taking over Alfheim, and I was interested so I read something about them. I believe they are a species of inorganic, amorphous extraterrestrials. I thought I had read something about… bonding with people? I am not sure. Consensus is they are like shapeshifters, only a lot more into eating people, and it is said nothing can kill them.”

“What did it do to Clint?” Natasha asked, her grip on Clint’s hand tightening.

“I think…” Loki looked at Clint’s face, then at the slimy goo in the plastic container. “I think it was trying to inhabit Barton his body. But… I believe they cannot just inhabit anyone. So, I think, but I am not sure, it was testing Barton’s… if he had the right ‘settings’.”

“What if he didn’t?” Bucky asked, his voice was surprisingly soft and quiet.

Loki looked at him, his eyebrows lowered a bit and he looked almost _sad_. “Then I am afraid, that if the thing had pushed through, it would have killed him.”

A deafening silence fell. Loki gave a small shrug. “Perhaps we are lucky,” he said, and he turned back to Clint. He went to the sink to wash his hands again. He used a lot of soap and they even saw a green glow appear on his hands. 

When back at Clint, Loki asked doctor Cho to open Clint's shirt. The doctor did it and Loki placed one hand flat on Clint's chest, just below his diaphragm. Clint squirmed a bit again, probably because Loki's hands were ice cold.  “My apologies,” Loki said. 

A green glow came from his hand, after a few seconds Loki frowned as Clint began to mumble things. He then reached out for Clint's oxygen mask again. “That stings,” Clint said when it was removed. Everyone - but Loki - had no idea what he meant. 

“Does it?” Loki asked, genuinely interested, “where does it sting exactly? Here?”

Loki let his hand rest just below Clint's diaphragm again. Clint shook his head. Loki moved his hand a bit up, but not where it was either. Again up a bit, still not the right place. Loki then placed his hand just below Clint's collar bones. A nod. 

Loki bit his lip and a frown appeared on his forehead. “I hope he has been lucky.”

Bucky barely moved when hearing that, he only looked down at the ground. Steve laid his hand down on his friend's shoulder. 

A green glow came from Loki's hand, the frown disappeared, and the corners of his mouth even tugged up a bit. Clint tried lifting his head up a bit to see what Loki was doing. Doctor Cho gently pushed his head back down on the table again. 

“This may sting,” Loki said. His hand glowed even greener and it seemed to go _through_ Clint’s skin. Natasha noticed Clint was gripping her hand tightly, but he wasn’t trying to move away from Loki’s touch. That soothed her nerves a little, Clint was not in excruciating pain, but she still didn’t like it. Loki then pulled his hand up again, taking more black slime up with him. He threw it in another plastic container.

“He must be the luckiest person on Midgard,” was all he said, but the effect was huge. Smiles broke through and breaths were released. Bucky relaxed visibly more, so he wasn’t destroying his teeth anymore with all the grinding.

“Is he going to be alright?” Natasha asked as Clint closed his eyes again.

Loki nodded. “I have removed the remains of the…” he sighed frustrated, “I cannot remember its name! But I have removed it, he can feel sick the next few days as I cannot remove _everything_. But there is too little left to bond, it will weaken fast and eventually die.”

Natasha took Clint's hand between her own two, she shook her head and took a deep breath. “Barton, I don't know if you can hear this, but when you wake up I'm gonna kill you,” she said, her voice sounded as if she was crying but there were no tears. 

“When he is awake and has rested, let him read,” Loki said. 

“Read?” Tony asked. Loki nodded as he walked towards the sink, again.

“He has to keep his mind working, to make it stronger, all of us should. These things can corrupt you, by taking over your mind. The weaker the mind, the easier it is for them to take over. Learn new things like languages, listen to music, read books, do mindfulness or yoga, go outside. Being busy will be good for him. But let him rest first. Oh,” Loki turned back to them, “he will most likely vomit when he wakes up. And if it appears to be black, do not worry, it can be some more remains of the… slime.”

“Christ…” Bruce mumbled.

 

* * *

  

Doctor Cho shooed them all out of the infirmary soon after, saying Clint had to rest and they were with way too much to be cramped up into the room. Natasha and Bruce could stay.

Tony was making impatient gestures, trying to get the others to feel the gravity of this situation. “Seriously, guys. Clint just got attacked by one of those things, it had sneaked into the building and no one noticed. Do you even realize that? Loki knows things about these monsters, so I want to hear every damn thing he has to say if it helps us preparing for the next attack. Because believe me, there is going to be another one. I can feel it.”

Sam then frowned. "Wait, hold up. What happened to the one attacking Clint?"

“I threw it out the window,” Bucky spoke, his voice still soft. 

Loki made a sharp turn around to face Bucky, green eyes piercing. “I hope you know he is not dead then; did you only throw him out the window or did you do anything else?”

The man with the metal arm seemed to be thinking for a moment. “I uh. When I ripped it off Clint it - it attacked me with its tongue.” Bucky cleared his throat and was silent for a moment. He remembered it to be long and slimy, covered in white and yellow saliva.

“Yes? And then?” Loki pushed, not fully understanding that in this hour Bucky had said more than he usually did in months. 

“In an impulse, I grabbed its tongue with my arm...” again Bucky trailed off in silence, his metal arm twitching. Loki looked like he wanted to give Bucky a whack against the head. Loki wondered if there were words somewhere inside of Bucky, stuck like coins in a vending machine, and someday he would get whacked upside the head hard enough that they'll all just fall out and surprise the hell outta everyone.

“And I think I ripped it from his throat...” 

Loki's eyes widened. “Where?”

Bucky jerked his head toward the wall. Loki just raised an eyebrow at him, obviously waiting for him to be more specific. When Bucky jerked his head again, Loki asked, “Are you experiencing some sort of seizure?”

“In the fucking living room,” Bucky grumbled. 

Loki raced from the room with Thor and Tony following him directly. Natasha didn't look like she would be moving, and Bruce looked pale enough, so those two weren't coming. Steve looked at Bucky, Wanda and Sam. Sam shrugged and walked towards the living room too. Steve took Wanda's and Bucky's hand and gently lead them to the living room too. 

There wasn't much to see in the living room. The carpet was moved a bit, but because the living room wasn't filled with furniture Clint and the Symbiote hadn't knocked over anything. What did pull attention was the broken window. Most of the glass had fallen outside and Steve hoped nobody at the foot of the Tower got hurt. He let go of Wanda's and Bucky's hand. 

“Where did you throw it?” Tony asked, looking around the room. 

“Found it,” Sam said, pointing at something with a disgust look on his face. 

They all went looking at it. It was as disgusting as the strand of goo they had pulled from Clint's throat. Wanda shuddered next to Steve and Bucky pulled a face. Tony and Loki slowly came closer to it, Tony a bit faster than Loki. Loki grabbed Tony's arm. “Not too fast, Stark. It can still attack us.”

Simultaneously Wanda, Bucky, Sam and Steve took a step away from it. 

“That's disgusting,” Tony said, but the look on his face said clearly 'interested'. He took a step closer and squatted down. Loki went on one knee and narrowed his eyes a bit. He slowly held out his hand towards it, green magic sparking on his fingers. 

He and Tony jumped back when the appendage suddenly moved. It screeched a bit and rolled over the floor, heading for the window. 

“Do not let it get away!” Loki called out. 

Wanda stepped forward and used her hex to lift it into the air. The thing screeched and writhed. “It is disturbing me where do I let it?” She asked. Steve grabbed a little trash bin from the corner of the room and placed it on the ground not too far from Wanda. She threw the appendage in the bin and shuddered again. 

They looked in the bin and saw the appendage bumping against the sides of the bin, it was too small for him, he wanted out. Tony raised his hand, apart from his iron man suit was around it. The repulsor on the palm of his hand started zooming and lighted up. "I say we kill it." 

“I agree,” Wanda said. 

“Wait,” Sam said. “Wanda, can't you look inside it or something? Maybe we'll figure out its weaknesses.”

Wanda looked at him with nothing but disgust on her face. “Look inside it? Are you mad? Even if I _wanted_ to look inside it, I cannot look inside a tongue. I need a mind.”

Loki looked inside the bin too. “Well, actually, they do not really have minds, as they do not have brains. They take over yours. They exist from one piece, sort of. Cut off one part and they will simply regrow it. They do not work as humans, they are one clump of black goo that take over a host. You can shoot it, Stark. This will not regrow. The monster does not need this anymore. It will mortify, but please, you are welcome to speed up the process.”

The repulsor zoomed and Tony fired a blast into the bin, the appendage screeched for a moment. Then it became silent again. 

Footsteps approached the room and Bruce appeared in the door opening. He shortly looked at the bin with the smoldering tongue laying inside, seeing some smoke rise. “Yeah, eh, I don't want to interrupt anyone. But Clint's awake.”

 

* * *

  

They walked in on Clint throwing up in a bag. And not just a bit, but he was emptying his whole stomach and almost puking his insides out. Natasha rubbed circles on his back and spoke softly to him. 

“I feel so gross,” Clint said. He looked up at the others coming in, his eyes were bloodshot and sunken, and his face was pale but further he looked pretty ok– he lifted his head up and everyone saw the large bruises covering his throat – except for that too.

“I was already puking my guts out, then I saw what Loki had pulled from my chest...” Clint said. He retched, and another tidal wave of puke splashed in the bag. “Someone has some coffee? I need to wash that horrible taste away.”

Loki flicked his wrist and made a gesture of holding out his hand, a steaming cup appeared in it. “You can make coffee appear?” Clint asked, then he spitted into the bag. Loki nodded. Clint chuckled and made grabby-hands at it. Loki handed it over and the archer thankfully took a big sip. 

“Ahhh, holy coffee,” Clint said, then taking another big sip. A frown appeared on his face as he swallowed the second sip. He quickly put the cup down and puked again into the bag. His vomit was brown now.

“Slow drinks, Clint. Or you'll be throwing up everything you swallow,” Doctor Cho said.

Clint shrugged and picked the cup up again. “I need this,” he said.

He took a sip again, but this time a smaller and slower one. He looked at Loki. “I need to ask something," he said. Loki gave a small nod. “Well uh, there is something... I don't know... stinging? Inside me. Is that normal?”

It was Loki's time to frown now. He walked at Clint and reached out for his shirt, unbuttoning it with fast movements. 

“Hey uh, what are you doing?” Clint asked awkwardly. 

Loki laid his hand down flat on Clint's chest again. Clint squirmed a bit. “Your hand is ice cold,” he whined.

Loki hummed something and moved his hand a bit on Clint's chest. A green glow moved across his skin. “It's stinging again,” Clint whispered, an uncomfortable expression on his face. He laid his hand down on his chest, above Loki's. 

“That is not good sign,” Loki said, making Clint look up with wide eyes.

“Stinging means it is still somewhat active. How do you feel? Afraid? Angry?”

Clint pouted a little, thinking deeply. “Hungry,” he said.

Loki raised his eyebrow. “Hungry is not exactly what I meant. I meant emotions. I need to know if another mind is interfering with yours. Do you feel sad? Angry?”

Clint sighed. “I feel like I want more coffee.” He grabbed the cup and wanted to take a big sip, but Loki pushed the cup down a bit, so he had to take a smaller sip. He grumbled something and rolled his eyes, but did take small sips. 

“I will give you as much coffee as you please if you answer my questions, do we have an agreement?” Loki tried.

Clint peeked over the edge of his cup, and slowly nodded, a big grin on his face. 

“You have no idea what you have done,” Natasha whispered. 

Loki shrugged. He could easily make coffee appear, a flick of the wrist easily. But there was only one Clinton Barton, and Clinton Barton may or may not be inhabited by a killer alien species. And if it somehow still grew inside of Clint and tried to take him over, they would have a _big_ problem.

“Emotions?” Loki asked. 

“I actually feel pretty... okay. Normal. I feel nauseous and annoyed because I almost died.” Clint shrugged a bit. “And it annoys me that my chest is stinging.”

“Did you feel it sting when you were attacked?”

Clint shook his head. “Only after that thing had its… hand? Claw? Whatever it was, pushed down my chest for a few seconds.”

“How did it feel?” Loki had his fingertips pressed to Clint’s chest, green sparks coming off the tops. It was absurd to look at, but Clint seemed to have no problem with it. 

“Well, it felt… I barely felt it, actually. Just odd. like there was something loosening inside me. It felt weird, it stung. But not a painful sting, a sort of odd sting. My chest became cold and I felt something stir inside me. It scared me a lot. The creature scared me." Clint took a deep breath before continuing. 

"Its eyes rolled back into its head and its skin fell off. Its real skin was black, but there was also yellow. Its slime dripped down on my face, and it… yeah. I thought I was gonna die. But then the hands disappeared from my throat and I could suck in air. I saw the black goo on my chest and tried getting it off me. I pulled some of it away, but couldn’t get everything gone."

Loki nodded. "I noticed you got the most of it, I am very proud, few take against such a creature and come out victorious. Well done." 

Clint looked a bit taken aback by this comment, but he managed to say 'thank you' anyway. He buttoned his shirt, then something appeared to him. He sat up and looked around the room. "Who saved me, actually?" 

After a small nudge of Steve's elbow Bucky slowly raised his hand. Clint looked at him. He stood up from the table, wobbled a bit, and walked straightly at Bucky. Still dazed from everything that happened, but determined, he wrapped his arms around the ex-Soviet assassin. "You saved my fucking live. You saved my fucking mind. Thank you," Clint said. 

Bucky looked at Steve for help, but he got none. After a few seconds he had to admit the warm weight against him was kind of... comfortable. It didn't feel threatening, it felt normal, nice. So, he slowly wrapped his arms back around Clint's back, because that's what you're supposed to do in a hug, right? 

Clint suddenly sniffed as if he was crying and Bucky let go spooked, afraid he had done something wrong. "I'm sorry, I suddenly have to cry and - he hiccupped - and I don't know why!" Clint wiped away tears and coughed. "I think I have to puke again where's that bag?" 

Sam quickly handed him the bag, but Clint didn't throw up again. "Not your fault," Clint said as he saw Bucky was still a bit spooked. "I just- this has never happened to me before and I don’t like it. But thank you."

Bucky gave a jerky nod, looking down to hide behind that curtain of hair.

Soft footsteps closed in on the room. Everyone looked up and at the door, frowning. A boy walked around the corner. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, but instead his chest was swathed in bandages. He was wearing pajama pants; his feet were bare. His white hair was ruffled, and he looked sleepy, yet curious.

“Hey guys,” the boy said, voice thick with the same accent as Wanda. He looked around the room, then his eyes settled on Clint who was crying into his coffee. “What happened to him?”

“Pietro!” Wanda called out. She rushed at her twin brother and carefully hugged him.

“Careful, Wanda, it still hurts.”

“What are you up walking? You should be in bed!” His sister scrunched up her nose at him. He smiled back, stroking some hair away from her forehead.

“I heard the noise. What happened? Why is Clint crying?”

“He almost got possessed by a sticky goo monster,” Tony answered. Loki gave him a soft kick with his foot against Tony’s leg.

“Stark, you are back! Where were you?”

The gazes went to Tony, who looked a bit guilty. But he masked it quick. “Needed air. Time for myself. You know me, always disappearing when I should be there!” he laughed, but they knew what he said came from a place of shame and doubt.

“That’s okay, Tony, I locked myself in my room for a few hours,” Bruce said quickly, trying to avoid Tony feeling bad about himself, “And Steve went on what I think was a three-hour walk. We all needed a moment to breathe.”

“And the bogey?” Pietro continued.

“It was a Night Fury,” Steve said, “Loki says they’re about one of the most dangerous dragons you can encounter. So that’s great. The one that… attacked you is a Whispering Death. We’re working on a way to chase him away.”

Pietro nodded slowly, and a short silence fell.

“Sounds like a lot happened while I was away, Captain,” a familiar voice said.

Head snapped up. Wanda’s eyes turned big, “Vision!”

   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Clint :( I feel sorry for him. Some new information about the New Party! They're aliens! Pietro's up and walking, and Vision's back! They have a LOT to catch up on.   
> I hope you enjoyed this, see ya next chapter!


	21. At Least I’m Not On Dragon-Chasing Duty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They need a plan, so they go make one. Research is important, but so is field work. Steve and Wanda go try that new trick, while Tony and Loki take a nice stroll through nature. And almost get flambeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter takes multiple views (all third person, of course). First it's from everyone's view, then from Steve's and Wanda's view, and last from Loki's and Tony's view.

**The Avengers**

“Okay, listen up, everyone. This might be the most chaotic situation we’ve ever been in so far, so focus. Let’s make a list. What happened, and what do we know?”

Steve looked around the conference room. He was standing in front of a large white-board, a black marker in his hand. At the top of the white-board was written, ‘What the fuck happened’, only Steve had wiped away the ‘the fuck’ part so it only said, ‘What happened’, with a large blank space between the words.

Steve felt like a teacher, standing before the classroom. He asked a question, but no one answered. Some of them even actively avoided looking at him. Clint was still in the infirmary, with Loki and Doctor Cho’s help he had healed a great deal already, but they wanted to keep him close in case he did something unexpected.

Like attacking and eating them.

No one said that last part out loud.

Pietro was feeling better, but that short trip to the other room had left him exhausted, so he went back to his room to sleep some more. Turned out he was fast in everything. Not only speed and metabolism. He healed faster than the average human too. That was positive for them. Only a few more days of rest and Pietro was good to go.

“There are no wrong answers,” Steve continued, “just say what happened.”

“There are dragons,” Natasha spoke up firstly, after a short silence.

Steve nodded and wrote down, ‘Dragons’. They needed a list, because there was so much going on right now no one could keep track. It was important to, after a while of chaos and all kinds of events happening at once, to stop for a moment. Catch your breath, write everything down, catch up. Otherwise things would be forgotten, and things wouldn’t add up anymore in the future.

“They are called a Whispering Death and a Night Fury,” Thor added.

Steve drew an arrow behind ‘Dragons’ and wrote the two names on the board after it. “What else?”

“The dragons are from other worlds, Ljósfold, right?” Bruce said.

It was written down, Thor had to spell it out for Steve otherwise he’d write the word wrong. After the first three things, the rest dared to say some things too. Nothing was wrong, after all. Steve had to work hard to keep up.

“They have been sent here by someone using the Tesseract.”

 _Dragons - > Tesseract_.

“The New Party are aliens, and they’re working with HYDRA and the Ten Rings.”

_New Party = Aliens (10 Rings, HYDRA)._

“Those aliens try to inhabit your body.”

_Aliens - > possessing_

“Clint almost died.”

_Clint - > almost died._

“There is a vast possibility more dragons are currently residing on Midgard.”

_Dragons > 2?_

“The Tesseract was taken from my father’s Vault on Asgard.”

_Tesseract - > stolen from vault Asguard._

“No, no, Asgard is without the u, Steven.”

_Tesseract - > stolen from vault Asgard._

“The Tesseract is actually the Space Stone, and there are five more Infinity Stones.”

_Infinity Stones: Tesseract = Space Stone. 5 more._

“A dangerous villain is after all those stones for his big plan.”

_T - > evil plan -> 6 stones._

“But he needs all six for that, and we already have one.”

_1 Stone = Avengers._

“Apparently, those dragons appear somewhere close to Greenland, according to Vision. And he can feel the stones.”

_Vision, connection to Stones?_

They knew a lot of things already. The dragons came here because they were dumped into this world by someone who had the Tesseract. They were not sure if this someone was Thanos; a mad man who wanted all the six Infinity Stones to kill half of all life, or someone else.

The dragons were here now; a Whispering Death in the backyard, and a Night Fury somewhere in the forest. That Night Fury had stopped a terrorist attack though, only taking out the bad guys and then outflying two Raptor planes. But it was still a dragon and it had almost killed them.

A New Party had arrived, working with both HYDRA and the Ten Rings. They were fast and sneaky, but it was unsure what they wanted. They dealt no drugs, bought no weapons, they just were there, and they were growing. Turned out, they weren’t human but some kind of alien. A Shapeshifting alien. They wanted to know how much SHIELD knew about them, so they wanted to take that information out of Clint, but Clint wouldn’t give it and then he almost died.

“We have to make a plan, who does what and when. We have three main problems,” Steve said, he pointed at the board. "Problem number one; dragons.” He put a circle around the word ‘dragons’.  “Problem number two; the Alien Party.” He put a circle around that word too. "Problem number three: The Infinity Stones." Another circle.

“We need to determine who does research of what. We’re going to make teams, it’s not final, perhaps they will change a little later, I’m not sure either. Loki is in charge of Team Dragon, since he knows the most about them. Thor is in charge of Team Infinity together with Vision, because Vision has a Stone and Thor knows the realms. And I’m in charge of Team Party. Is there someone who already has a preference to one of the teams?”

Tony held up his hand, Steve nodded at him, “Fill me in on Team Dragon, please, thanks sweetheart.”

Steve rolled his eyes but wrote Tony’s name down under Team Dragon. “Anyone else?”

Natasha held up her hand now, “Team Party for me. I want revenge for Clint.”

Steve wrote Natasha’s name underneath his own. He then sent a short glance at Bucky, who was the only one standing. He was with his back against the wall where he had perfect visual on everything that happened in the room. His arms were crossed tightly. He looked up shortly at Steve, and there was an almost invisible nod between the two. Steve wrote Bucky’s name under Team Party.

“I’m with you too, Steve,” Sam said.

“We’ll need someone to join Team Dragon, it’s a bit lonely over here,” Tony noted.

A nod. “We have left; Pietro, Wanda, Bruce and Clint. Pietro and Wanda are with Thor and Vision, Bruce and Clint are with Loki and Tony,” Steve said, then adding, “When Clint and Pietro are feeling up to it, I mean.”

Bruce fiddled a little with his glasses, “I don’t know if that’s such a clever idea, Cap. I don’t want the other guy to beat the dragons to pulp. It’s not their fault they’re dropped here…”

Steve gave him a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, Bruce. Your job will not be to chase them all around or attack them, but to study them carefully. From a distance. We don’t want to make them angry, we just want to find out what they do, what they eat, how they live. Alright?”

Bruce nodded. That sounded alright. He could do that. Steve turn turned to Vision. The android had told them about his journey through the world, and how he had eventually ended up in Greenland. The Stone in his head had been buzzing oddly for a while now (they speculated since the first dragon had landed here), and he wanted to find out what it was, what it meant.

Nothing had happened, actually, on his journey. He had traveled a lot, but seen and found out truly little. Until he came to Greenland, where he had witnessed a dragon appearing out of a blue whirlwind and falling into the ocean. Tony had sat up straight when that was mentioned and repeated with much shock in his voice, “Blue whirlwind?”

Vision had said yes, that was where it had come through to this world. Tony then nodded slowly, but did not continue the conversation. He was noticeably quiet after. They had a lot of pieces of info, but not much to tie it together with. Loki knew some things, Vision knew some things, Thor knew a little. But there wasn’t much. But well, that was what these teams were for. It would be mostly research.

“Our main job is to make sure no one else gets hurt, and that we protect the Stone we have, understand?” Steve asked. Everyone present in the room nodded.

“We must continue our training, twice as hard as before. We’ll have to come up with new attacks, new combo’s, we’ll have to learn to use our abilities the best we can. And we must keep our minds sharp and wills strong, for the alien mind-control thing. There’s a lot we have to do, but I’m sure we can do it if we work together.”

Again, there was nodding, but a little more determined this time with a few times ‘yeah’ and ‘definitely’ through it.

“Okay then,” Steve said, “Let the training and research begin.” 

 

   

**Steve and Wanda**

"Ready?"

Wanda flicked her wrists, a red fog beginning to swirl around her fingers. Steve placed one foot behind the other, standing ready to take a sprint. He fastened his helmet and cleared his throat. His gaze was focused on the wall somewhat away from him. They were at the side of the Avengers HQ, the one furthest away from the Whispering Death hole. They did not want to interrupt that dragon, thank you very much.

It was early in the afternoon, they just had lunch after reading papers and searching the internet for quite some hours. They all agreed some fresh air and a little bit of working out would be good for them. So Wanda and Steve had agreed on trying out a new move they had been talking about for a while.

Tony and Loki had gotten information about a dragon in the forest, and gone after that. Bruce was content on staying at the HQ, trying to gather information about the Whispering Death without coming close. Cameras would be a promising idea. Clint wasn’t up for a field-trip yet, so he stayed behind with Bruce.

"Ready," he confirmed.

Footsteps came closer and it was Clint who appeared into their vision, phone in his hand and raised up at the two. "Haya guys," he said, flashing them a wide grin.

"Shouldn’t you be in bed?" Steve asked.

"Probably."

"Are you filming this?"

"Definitely."

Steve rolled his eyes, then sent Wanda a questioning look. She nodded, planting her feet firmly into the earth and titling her chin up. Deep breath in, deep breath out. She could do this. She had been training for a while to lift heavy objects while they were moving. She could do it with robots, so people shouldn't be a big problem.

Only now, she realized, now she had to keep them in one piece. Back in Sokovia, it didn't matter if she flung them against a wall or tore them in two. But she could imagine Steve would not appreciate her tearing his limbs off his torso. She shook her head to get rid of the annoying thoughts, and nodded at the Captain.

"Alright, test one. Three... two... one... GO!"

Steve pulled a sprint at the wall. In his runway, there was a heavy chest. He was supposed to run at the chest, jump on it and use it to then make an even higher jump. Because the wall of the HQ was way higher than he could ever jump (even with the chest to help) Wanda had to use her hex to fling him up the last few meters.

Jumping onto the chest wasn't big of a problem, but in his next jump nothing happened, and he fell down again. He landed on his feet, going through his knees to lean with his hand on the grass to keep his balance. He looked at Wanda confused. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, yeah. I just... warm up a bit."

The Captain walked back to the start, taking the sprint stance again.

"Test two. Three... two... one... GO!"

Steve pulled another sprint. He jumped onto the chest and then jumped again. Now something definitely happened. But it wasn't what was supposed to happen. He felt something press against his skin like water in a pool, but only this wasn't wet. It made his skin tingle and a shiver went through his spine. The building was closing in fast. But there was one problem.

He wasn't going up.

"WANDA!" He called out. He raised his arms and pulled up his legs, then a moment later he felt himself crash against the wall of the HQ. The air was forced out of his lungs. There was nothing he could hold on to, and he fell right down. He landed on the concrete path along the building with a pain-filled grunt.

Wanda stood a little away, covering her mouth with her hands and her face twisted into a shocked expression. "Steve!" She cried, then she rushed at him.

He was already coming up, and he seemed fine. The Captain wiped some dirt from his clothes, giving her a smile. "It's fine, Wanda. I'm okay. You want to try again?"

She was a bit reluctant to at first, but Steve persuaded her. He took his stance and she took hers. Clint was still filming, and by now Natasha had joined him.

"Test three. Three... two... one... GO!"

Steve sprinted once more. Jump. Onto the chest. Jump. Into the air. He felt the water-like magic curl around him. Around his limbs, his chest and even his head. He felt himself rising up further than normal. And for a moment it was as if all was working. As if they were going to succeed. But then Steve noticed that even though he was going up...

...he wasn't going up high enough.

Well damn.

And once again, he crashed hard against the wall of the HQ.

"I'm fine!" He called out, as soon as he had fallen back to the ground. "A little higher next time, okay?"

"Test four. Three... two... one... GO!"

_Sprint. Jump. Step. Jump._

_Crash._

"We almost got it, a little higher still!"

Bucky had joined too, arms tightly crossed before his chest and a scowl on his face. That scowl was directed towards Steve, who kept crashing against the wall, looking like an idiot. The scowl became worse with each crash. Steve pretended as though he did not see it.

"Almost there, you're going great!"

_Crash._

"A little further too, alright?"

Sam was there now too, standing ready on top of the roof in case something went wrong. Clint said he was a little late for that, but Sam wanted to try and help out anyway.

"Try to fling me up more, okay?"

Wanda took a deep breath. _C'mon, you can do this!_ Her current way of hexing clearly wasn’t working, so she had to try another way. Maybe… maybe…

Maybe she just had to concentrate solely on Steve, keeping her hands low towards the ground, and then throw them up in the air so he was thrown up with the movements of her hands. Yeah, that could work!

"Test eight. Three... two... one... GO!"

_Sprint. Jump. Step. Jump._

Wanda threw her hands in the air as hard and far as she could.

Oh, he was flung up alright. Steve was flung up quite far. Only now the problem was he was flung up way too much. He rose into the air, reaching out above the building already, but he was nowhere _near_ the edge of the roof so when he had reached quite a height, he plummeted right down again, not being able to land on the roof or grab the edge in his fall. As soon as Steve let out a shout Sam jumped into action.

His wings folded out and he jumped off the building, flying up at Steve and snatching him from his fall. He helped his friend to the ground, and only let go of Steve's hand when he stood firmly with two feet on the ground.

"Maybe we should call it a day, try again tomorrow?" He asked Wanda, who nodded. "You did amazing, by the way, I'm serious. With a little more practice, this could work."

Clint sniggered, looking at the screen of his phone. Steve thought he heard something like the words 'YouTube' and 'views’, but he paid no mind.

"Steve, are you certain?” Wanda asked, a little hesitantly.

Steve nodded, “Yes! We’re doing great already! But like all things, the first few tries aren’t always the best. Rome wasn’t built in one day, and magic isn’t practiced in one either.”

“Yeah, okay,” Natasha spoke up then, “But you look like a complete idiot.”

The Captain shrugged at that, “At least I’m not on Dragon-Chasing duty.”

  

  

**Tony & Loki**

“Isn’t this great? Just you and me, out here, in the forest, searching for dragons. It’s great.”

“Yes, because I love chasing a giant monster that can breathe fire, I cannot get enough of it!”

Tony stuck out his tongue to the god, who then rolled his eyes. While the other two teams were mostly doing research behind computers and in books, Tony and Loki went after the thing that had popped up on FRIDAY’s radar. A large animal, moving fast and flying. That _had_ to be a dragon. She did not have any pictures or descriptions, she just knew it was there.

Tony had finally informed Pepper about the dragons, and Happy too. This morning. They were _shocked,_ and if the situation hadn’t been that serious, Tony would have laughed at their expressions. Pepper was making him promise to stay safe, and Tony was urging the two to _not_ just step by Avengers HQ unannounced, because the digging dragon might not like that.

He hadn’t told Rhodey, though. He still had to, but he didn’t know _how_. He trusted Rhodey blindly, but this was something complicated. ‘Hey, Rhodey, remember that bogey that took out those terrorists? Yeah well, it’s a dragon. And a Night Fury at that, the offspring of lightning and death itself!’ No, not like that. He _had_ to tell him, that was for sure.

Or Rhodey would go after that dragon himself.

Rhodey could hurt Hiccup and Toothless, or maybe they would hurt him! Tony knew Hiccup wouldn’t just shoot and hurt people, she was not like that, but he _did_ know that if Rhodey opened fire, they would fire back, to protect themselves. The thought of Rhodey getting hit by one of those full-charged plasmablasts, and then falling down to Earth in a dead-drop… it made Tony shiver.

He would tell him later. Tomorrow, or something.

Shit, he _just_ realized he probably had to give Hiccup a phone! That way they could easily communicate with each other, let each other know what was going to happen. If Tony knew that the US Air Force Base was going to send out more F-22 Raptors or other planes, he could immediately warn Hiccup and tell her to stay home. To stay on the ground.

Yeah, he had to get her a phone.

Loki noticed he was being unusually quiet, so he decided that the best way to not make the god suspicious was to talk about his life story. Just playing the whole song, whining about his past and his dad and everything. He was going to try and make it as boring as possible.

Twenty minutes in and Loki was already losing focus on him.

Tony couldn’t stop himself from smiling. That always worked.

    

A rustle in the bushes. Loki whipped his head up and looked around, his eyes narrowed.

“So then when I thought I was dying I just decided to live the rest of my short life to the max, you know? Doing what I wanted and not caring if it could get me killed or not, being all reckless. People thought I was being an attention whore and unnecessarily dramatic, but I wasn’t!”

Loki glanced over at Tony, not annoyed or anything, just amazed that this man could keep talking for like… forever. Again, a rustle, Loki slightly bend through his knees, trying to peek between the dense-grown leaves. A big shadow moved along a tree and on the grass, two paws with huge claws, a big body with a long neck, an elongated head with four horns… Loki’s eyes widened.

“After practically getting sentenced to death by my Arc Reactor. I threw this whole party for my birthday and did all kinds of crazy things, like using my repulsors for shooting at watermelons and –”

Loki grabbed Tony and roughly pulled him behind a large rock.

“Loki!” Tony exclaimed, “What are you –”

Loki shut Tony up by clasping his hand over the other’s mouth firmly. Tony raised his hand to remove Loki’s, but the trickster grabbed his wrist with his other hand to stop him from doing so. Tony was looking both offended and confused.

The god removed his hand from Tony’s wrist to put his finger on his own lips. The mechanic’s eyes moved around in their sockets, trying to catch anything out of the ordinary, but he saw nothing. He was just about to either lick the hand that was over his mouth (because he could be that childish) or push the god away when he _did_ see something.

A big shadow of a four-horned creature appeared on the grass before them. They were lucky the sun was behind them or they never would have seen the shadow.

“Dragon,” Loki whispered in Tony’s ear. They were so close to each other Tony could feel Loki’s breath tickle his ear. A loud breathing came from behind the rock they were sitting against. Then a low growl and a sniffing sound. Next to Tony Loki held in his breath.

A stamping sound like footsteps from a giant animal slowly faded away; it was leaving. The shadow disappeared but the two men stayed still for another five minutes. Only after that they dared to move. Loki removed his hand from Tony’s mouth and turned around crouched down to the ground. His hands moved to the rock and he came up slightly to peek over it. Tony did the same. They both swallowed thickly as they saw the dragon was still there.

The dragon was truly gigantic, standing about 60 feet tall. It had a long, snakelike neck and tail, and was covered in red scales and long sharp spines. The dragon’s gigantic head looked like it could swallow humans whole. It had no forelegs, and its ground-based locomotion looked similar to that of Pterosaurs to Tony, except that it had a lower profile due to its sprawled wings; it was using its claw-tipped wings to ‘crawl’ along the ground.

It had four horns on its big head in a swept back position. Its stripe skin patterns seemed to mimic that of a tiger's. Together with the red, black and orange stripe-patterns, it had also a few spots of yellow.

The dragon sniffed the air again, a loud, snorting sound coming from its large, trembling nostrils. It growled and dipped its head to the ground, sniffing the grass. Tony felt a hand on his shoulder, gently pushing him back behind the rock. Both Loki and Tony crouched down again, out of the sight of the dragon.

“What is that?” Tony whispered.

“A Monstrous Nightmare,” Loki whispered back.

Tony looked at Loki with raised eyebrows, signaling with his eyes he still had no clue what it was. Loki rolled his eyes, but didn’t answer. The soft grunts and snorts came closer, a heavy breathing sound making its way through the air from the other side of the rock.

A few seconds later heavy steps walked a different direction. There was a growl, and the sound of an animal shaking its head. Then the flapping of large wings emerged, together with the sound of air being moved.

It was gone.

“Monstrous Nightmares are highly aggressive, and will never run from a fight,” Loki explained, while they were still sitting behind the rock. “Their fire is thick and sticky, clinging to walls and running down hills like a flaming river.”

Tony’s eyes became twice the size. “Seriously?! That’s so coo-”

Loki’s eyebrows knitted together.

“-scary. Yeah, so scary man, pfff, am I glad that thing’s away!”

Loki could't know Tony was more interested in than afraid of dragons now. That would raise questions. Questions he could not answer, or he'd have to tell everyone about Hiccup and Toothless, which would only cause problems. Tony came up from the ground and walked around the rock.

“Tony, no!” Loki hissed.

Tony didn’t see the problem. He walked around the stone to the place where there were less trees. Loki came up from the ground, but stayed behind the rock. “Stark! Come back!”

Tony didn’t listen, the dragon was gone, what was the problem? He looked at the ground, seeing some impressive scorch marks. Its fire must be coming in large streams and be hot, like a flamethrower! Tony pictured the dragon before him on the grass again, thinking deeply about its appearance and way of doing. What stood out?

The Monstrous Nightmare seemed like a dragon that would mostly rely on intimidation. With the horns, the large mouth and the skin pattern; red, black and yellow. All fierce, dangerous colors. Its fire was probably big and loud, adding to that intimidation.

“Tony!”

“What?” Tony hissed back, taking a few more steps. “It’s fine, the dragon’s gone!”

He stood with his back to the line of trees, but he still saw Loki’s eyes widen. Tony cocked his head slightly in confusion. Then he felt a warm puff of air blow down on him. Almost like someone was breathing on him, but that someone was huge. There was a low growling. Tony’s face fell.

“It’s right behind me, isn’t it?” he asked.

Another puff of air made him turn around. The dragon was even more daunting from close-by. Tony could count each of the scales on its giant mouth, and he saw a black void filled with teeth. Two eyes looked straight at him, the pupils were slits.

“Well, shit.”

The dragon then roared, raising up far on its hind-legs and flaring its wings. This was nothing like that Night Fury of Hiccup. Toothless had been scary, without doubt extremely dangerous, but this dragon was scary in a _whole separate way_. Toothless wasn’t exactly small on four paws, but this dragon was _huge._ There was a soft, crackling sound coming from the dragon, smoke rose up from its body.

Tony’s mouth opened, and he let out a loud scream when the Monstrous Nightmare raised itself up even higher and then _set itself on fire._ On FIRE. The flames spread from its legs to the tips of its tail, its head, its wings, everything WAS ON FIRE. Tony immediately ran the other way, the dragon’s head shot out and its jaws snapped at the place Tony had just been standing before.

“Tony, run!” Loki yelled. The god came closer at the dragon, his mind working rapidly to come up with the right spell. A magic shield? Fire extinguisher? Temporarily blinding spell? That last one had to do. His fingers twitched, and he worked up the magic to perform the spell. Tony could just dodge a fire blast roaring past. He felt the heat itch his skin.

“You could have told me it can set itself on fire!” Tony shouted.

“I am sorry! I forgot!”

“How can you _forget_ something like that?!”

Loki shot one of his hands out at the dragon’s head, a green magic flash whipped at the animal, particularly at its eyes. It dug its nails into the ground, coming to a halt. It threw its head up, shaking it wildly left and right. A frustrated roar escaped its mouth.

Loki grabbed Tony’s wrist and pulled him along with him. “That’s not going to hold it for very long, we must hurry!”

The dragon let out another blood-curdling scream, but they tried not to listen.

Only when they had reached a familiar spot in the forest again, after what seemed to be hours of running and dodging trees and rocks, they dared to pause for a moment and catch their breath.

_Jesus Christ._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if it took too long :( I was pretty busy, and I will be even more so later. School isn't nice. But I hope this chapter satisfied your needs. And thank you all so much for the comments! I appreciate it so much! They make me so happy.


	22. This Is How You Train A Dragon

**How To Pick Your Dragon**

“Okay, but so, how do you  _train_  a dragon- oh don’t you look at me like that!”

Hiccup quickly made the smirk disappear from her face, looking neutral with a pinch of fake-confusion, “Look like what?”

Tony narrowed his eyes at her, but only shortly. “Okay, but kidding aside. I’d really like to know.”

A short wink and a playful grin later, Hiccup came up from the soft couch they were sitting on and walked at her saddle bags. She grabbed something from it, Tony saw it was that large, leather-bound book again. The Book of Dragons. He didn’t really know how to tell Hiccup he wasn’t comfortable with looking at those gruesome drawings again. Though they were drawings, he didn’t like all the blood and gore that was displayed on them. It made him feel uneasy.

But when she came closer and sat back down next to him, he noticed it wasn’t the Book of Dragons, but her travel journal. That one was probably a lot more friendly, he figured. She lifted the cover and they looked at one of the first pages. Toothless was laying before the fireplace, there was no fire though, but the dragon did not seem to mind.

She turned another page whereon a symbol of a dragon stood. Tony recognized the horns, elongated snout and snake-like neck. A Monstrous Nightmare. The hot fire was still burned into his mind.

“What are these kinds of dragons?” Tony asked, his fingers trailed over the drawing, eager to learn more. Underneath the drawing was written something, but Tony couldn’t read it. It looked like some random small stripes next to each other. Wait, was that Norse writing?

“Oh, that's easy,” Hiccup said, she pointed at the writing, “Stoker Class. Now according to the book, these hot-headed dragons are furious fire-breathers. Like the Terrible Terror. And when training a Terror, start with a very shiny object.”

She flipped the page and a picture of a rather small dragon came into view. It had an iguana-like body, two pairs of horns, one pair of wings, and a tail with a barbed tip. It had large eyes and a small body.

“Oh, he's cute!” Tony cooed, making Hiccup laugh.

“Cute? On his own perhaps. But stumble upon these dragons in a group and suddenly they’re not so cute anymore. You see, Terrors are social creatures. They love to hunt in packs. And let me tell ya, they can get quite nasty. Now, this one I’ve always liked.”

Hiccup flipped the page and another type of Stoker Class dragon appeared. Tony recognized that one immediately. Four horns, long snake-like neck and tail, elongated snout. “The Monstrous Nightmare,” Tony said out loud.

Hiccup looked up surprised, “You know this one?”

That got her a huff, “Know? It nearly  _killed_ me yesterday! We were just doing some recon, when that thing got the jump on me and it nearly barbequed me. They’re so big. He was  _so_ big.”

“Whoa. You walked into a Monstrous Nightmare and you’re still in one piece? Dude, respect. Now you know how this beast got his name. Nary a Viking has tamed this fierce creature. But you know what Bork used to say?” She started laughing, and almost couldn’t continue her story.

“He said, ‘You fall down, you get right back on the dragon’. I bet he didn't know that the Nightmare can set itself on fire! And if there's one thing you don't want, it's an angry Nightmare!”

Tony would have laughed along, if it hadn’t hit so close to home. Thinking back, it was kinda funny, but he remembered how terrified he had been when he stood face to face with that beast, looking right into its giant mouth.

“Wait,” Tony said, “Can it set itself on fire whenever it wants?”

“Basically, yeah. Its signature attack is known as the ‘Fire Jacket’ or ‘Fire Burst’. This ability makes it engulf itself in flames, resulting in an intimidating, offensive and defensive maneuver. They are able to set any part of their body on fire shown, they can do even on their horns if they want. They coat themselves in some sort of gel, Monstrous Nightmare gel. Very sticky. But also a perfect weapon. I use it to light up Inferno. A spark is all it takes to light it up.”

Tony nodded slowly, staring at the pictures in the journal. Hiccup showed him a few other dragons, including a Deadly Nadder, Armorwing and Thunderdrum, but Tony didn’t seem to be as interested in those as he was in the Monstrous Nightmare. And so an idea sparked up in Hiccup’s mind. He had seen a Monstrous Nightmare yesterday, right? And it probably was still there!

“Hey, would you like to train that dragon? That Monstrous Nightmare you’ve come across? We can train it for you!” Hiccup got up from the couch, visibly enthusiastic, “That’s gonna be awesome! If you train it, we can bring it here! So it’s safe from other people!”

There was almost a pleading look on her face, and Tony had to admit having a dragon would be  _awesome_. He wanted one really badly. His own fire-breathing, winged mythological creature. It would be dangerous, he knew that, but c’mon, a dragon! He came up from the couch too, stretching his limbs a bit.

He had given her the phone and explain her the basics. She didn’t understand all of it, but Tony about fell of his chair when she seemed to understand it quicker than Steve did, and Steve had grown up with some kind of phones. Hiccup hadn’t at all. But perhaps that was easier. Learning from zero. Cap probably was used to a certain way, and it could be tricky to chance those ways. She could make a call, and she could even send him messages and photos!

It was going to be so much fun.

“I don’t see why we can’t just check it out,” he said, “Who knows? Maybe I can train him after all!”

   

  

**How To Befriend Your Dragon**

“Yeah, you know what? I don’t think I really need to train him, though,” Tony whispered, as they stayed hidden behind the dense bushes, looking out over a small field where the Nightmare was walking circles.

The first thing Hiccup noticed was that it was distressed. Its tail kept flicking side to side, and its skin was constantly smoking. It was scared, and alone. It felt the need to keep ready, to never let its defense down. Its head moved from side to side, barely stopping for a moment to nip the grass and eat some leaves. Dragons preferred fish and mutton, but she had seen Nightmares eat plants before.

The first thing Tony noticed was that the dragon was still so terrifying large, and its colors were quite distracting and frightening. He suspected that thing could swallow a man whole with a mouth that big. Especially a less large man like Tony. He licked his dry lips and cast a glance back to where his suit was standing. At least, when it attacked, he could fight back.

“Sure you do, it’s gonna be fine. You can do this, Tony, I’ll be there with you all the way!”

Tony looked at the dragon again, and he wondered how the hell he was going to make it like him. How? Offer it food? Bribe it? How was he even going to get close? That thing would flambee him in a few seconds flat before he could even get close enough to look it in the eye.

“I’ll go in first, to calm it a bit,” she whispered. Tony nodded in silence.

Hiccup moved to the side, then stepped out of the bush. Her knees were slightly bend as she stayed low. The Nightmare perked its head up, turning it so Hiccup was looking right into its eyes. It rumbled deeply and flared its wings a little, stretching its long neck and tilting its head down.

“Shh, it’s alright, it’s alright,” Hiccup said calmly. She held two hands out towards the dragon. “I’m just here to help.”

The Nightmare growled and snapped its jaws at her fingers. Hiccup quickly took a step back. “It’s okay, boy, don’t worry. I’m just a friend. Calm now.”

The Nightmare didn’t come closer, neither did Hiccup, she stayed on a reasonable distance, hands up to show it she was unarmed and not coming to fight. The dragon seemed to notice that too, and it lowered its head a bit, but its body language still wasn’t friendly or trusting. But calm was all they needed.

“I think we’re good, Tony, come on. This is your chance.”

She held out her hand towards Tony, who reluctantly came closer. The dragon’s eyes flicked from her to him, and back to her. He was a bit distrusting, not like the proximity of the two humans.

“I have no idea what I have to do, please tell me,” he pleaded. One of the last things he wanted was to walk towards that dragon, and do whatever it was that he had to do without knowing how. He literally had no idea what he had to do! The dragon still looked somewhat threatened, though calmed down a little. Its skin wasn’t smoking anymore, so that was good.

“You need to win its trust,” Hiccup told him, “It needs to know you’re a friend. An equal. Someone to trust.”

“Oh… and how do I do that?”

“That differs per dragon. With Nightmares, it’s a certain action that fits their personality perfectly. I’m sure you can do it.”

Tony gave her a side-glance, not convinced he could do it at all. “And what is that? Do I need to capture him first and then… I don’t know, feed him?”

“Nah. You just need to walk up at him, grab his horns and smash his head to the ground.”

“ _Please_ tell me you’re joking!”

She shook her head in earnest. “Not joking, Tony. Go go get it tiger!”

Tony swallowed thickly as he walked closer at the dragon. “Hello there…”

The dragon rose up a bit, and Tony just  _knew_ the dragon recognized him from yesterday. There was no other explanation for that look in its eyes. He held his hands out a bit, hoping that that way he could calm the beast. But it didn’t look like it. He would just have to go for the direct approach then. This dragon looked like it often did the direct approach. Straight-forward, he could do that. 

Tony took a deep breath, then he charged. His feet pounded on the earth as he came closer, swaying to the right to dodge jaws snapping at him and he then grabbed the dragon’s horns. Pushing them down was a whole different story. The dragon rose its head up, and Tony’s feet dangled in the air now. “Oh shit!”

The dragon began shaking its head, trying to get rid of the annoying bug that was hanging on its horns. No, Tony did not like that one bit.

“Hold on, Tony, you’re doing fine!” Hiccup shouted from down there.

The dragon growled, and its head flicked to the side, almost throwing the man off. Tony quickly activated his Iron Man gauntlets, hoping that way to succeed. It lend him some strength, and it was easier to hold on to the horns now. “I almost got it!”

The moment the dragon dipped its head, Tony thrust forward and the dragon landed on the side of its head. Its tongue was hanging from its mouth and a low purring came from its chest. Tony was panting with his hand on his wildly beating heart, while Hiccup was giving him a thumbs-up.

  

  

**How To Name Your Dragon**

“What would you like to call him?”

“Uhh…” Tony was silent for a moment, “What about Wonder Boy? Starkster! No? Tin can, then? Nah.” Tony then gasped slightly and looked at the dragon with big eyes, as if he had just remembered something amazing.

“I got it... Dawntwister.”

“Dawntwister?”

Tony nodded vigorously. “Yes! Look at his color pattern; red, black, a little bit of yellow even… it’s like dawn, but then a dragon. He will twist the dawns by flying through the air in the middle of the day!”

“Sure,” Hiccup replied, “I like that name.”

“It’s better than Toothless.”

“You wish.”

“What do I have to do now?”

   

 

**How To Care For Your Dragon**

“Caring for your dragon is the most rewarding part of being a Dragon Trainer. You have to groom your dragon daily to avoid parasites and disease.” Hiccup was stroking along Toothless’ side in constant, gentle motions with a brush Tony had seen being used for horses also. Did Vikings have horses?

There was a bucket of water by her side, and occasionally she dipped the brush into the water and then continued cleaning her dragon. Toothless was purring, obviously happy with the brushing. They had taken the water from a stream they were only standing a few meters away from. The water was fresh, so they could easily use it. Though Tony did advise Hiccup not to drink it.

Tony scratched his head, observing her motions and then looking at his own dragon. That couldn’t be so hard.

“You try,” Hiccup said, nodding towards the other bucket of water with a brush in it. Tony hummed something back in response, then he held on to Dawntwister’s head and lifted up the brush.

“All right, Dawntwister, let's get you cleaned up.”

Dawntwister rumbled deep inside his chest, then slapped the brush out of Tony’s hand with his nose. “Hey, watch it, you!”

“Calm, Tony, you can do this,” Hiccup encouraged. “Have you ever cared for another animal before? Any other animal?”

“Well, me and my mom were once at a riding school and there I was allowed to brush a really old horse.”

“Well, there you go! It’s the same, but then this animal is larger.”

“No, it’s not! That horse didn't have teeth!”

Hiccup raised her eyebrows shortly, “Uh, carefully lift the scales and scrub underneath it.”

Tony shrugged, then went to Dawn’s side to poke the scales there, looking for a way to lift the scales and clean him. Dawn didn’t like the poking, and his head shot out to bump against Tony, sending him back, falling onto his behind.

“Ow! Grooming Monstrous Nightmares really is a monstrous job.”

Standing a few feet away, Hiccup couldn’t help it, she covered her chuckles behind her hand. Toothless growl-laughed along. Tony sent her a glare, obviously a bit cranky it wouldn’t work right away. But he wouldn’t be Tony Stark if he would not be a stubborn bastard!

So he grabbed the brush once more, returning to his dragon’s side when Dawn grabbed him by the back of his jacket, lifting him up into the air with his mouth. “Hey! Whoa!”

Dawn took a few steps, and dropped Tony into the water with a loud splash. Then the dragon went in himself too. Hiccup laughed harder at the sight of it. The water came to Tony’s chest, about around his middle. The genius’ teeth started chattering right away because of the cold water. Dawn was flapping his wings, making waves and splashing the water up.

It was a hilarious sight.

“Now you can clean him!” Hiccup called out.

All she got was a huff and a glare in response.

   

  

**How To Feed Your Dragon**

Hiccup was dangling a fish – a brown Trout to be exact, they had caught a few in the nearby stream – above her dragon’s head, just outside his reach. Toothless was gurgling, and trying to grab the fish from her hand, tail wiggling and light on his paws.

And while they did that, Tony patiently waited for Hiccup to start explaining. He was a bit impatient; he just wanted to start very badly. Though the bathing hadn’t been that great, this feeding thing seemed like something he was going to enjoy.

Toothless than rose onto his hind-legs and snatched the fish, throwing it up a little to get it fully into his mouth. He smacked his lips, tongue darting out for a moment as he had swallowed the fish. Though he should probably wait, Tony couldn’t control himself any longer and grabbed one of the Brown Trouts from the pile.

“Good boy, Toothless,” Hiccup said, then she turned to Tony, “A dragon’s nutrition is critical. Only a well-fed dragon will thrive.”

Her eyebrows raised as she saw Tony trying to force the fish into his dragon’s mouth.

“Come on! Ah! Get in there.” Tony was pushing the fish towards Dawntwister, who kept dodging it, rumbling softly. “Open your mouth! Ugh! I grabbed you the fattest one! What is wrong with you?”

Hiccup walked closer at him, Toothless following behind. Though the dragon’s ears perked up and he was distracted by the pile of fish that still lay there. Just leaving it there to rot would be wasting good food, so the dragon would sacrifice himself to take care of those. It would be tough, but Toothless would get through it. Hiccup rolled her eyes at her dragon.

“It’s not easy, Tony,” she said, “feeding dragons can be a bit tricky. Especially if you have a dragon who can be picky, like the Monstrous Nightmare. Some of them eat literally everything, and others pull up their nose for most things.”

Tony took Dawntwister by surprise and stuffed the fish into his mouth. “Nailed it!”

The dragon pulled his head back a bit, eyes closed in disgust. And while Tony was looking victorious, the dragon began coughing, its mouth open and a moment later Dawn spit the fish back into Tony’s face.

Hiccup tried so hard not to laugh. But it was hilarious. She should have filmed it! Such a shame, especially now she had one of those fancy phones. Next time.

  

  

**How To Call Your Dragon**

Dawntwister and Toothless were standing a distance away from Tony and Hiccup, in a grassy meadow, in preparation for the next part of becoming a Dragon Trainer. Hiccup and Tony were turned towards each other, Hiccup explaining what was coming next.

“Communication is the key to the bond between dragon and rider. You need to have a specific call that only  _your_  dragon understands.”

Hiccup placed her hands around her mouth. Tony’s eyes became so big he was afraid his eyes would roll out of their sockets when somehow a deep, screaming roar came from her throat. She was mimicking Toothless’ roar, a noise she  _shouldn’t_ be able to make! How was she making that noise?

A moment later, Toothless was jumping up against her, happy he had found her so quickly. “See?” Hiccup asked, scratching Toothless’ chin, “Like that.”

Tony cleared his throat, he was going to nail this. This couldn’t be so hard, could it? “Hey. Dawny!” he said, but the dragon did not react, Dawntwister just continued nipping the grass below. Sniffing and rumbling softly.

“Come here. Dawntwister! Don't you make me come over there. Get over here!”

Tony placed his fingers in his mouth and tried to whistle, but failed and Dawn continued to ignore him, laying down in the grass, eyes following a yellow butterfly that fluttered past. Because butterflies were obviously much more interesting than this random yelling.

“Over here! Get over here! Hey!” Tony yelled.

Hiccup slowly shook her head, seeing this was clearly not going to work. She walked over at his side, “Hey, how's it going?”

“Isn't it obvious?”

“Yeah uh… it doesn’t have to be a dragon roar. Just a noise that is unique and understandable. Do you have a whistle, or perhaps a horn? You just need a short noise that you can make at any moment possible.”

“Does screaming at the top of your lungs count?”

“Uh… no.”

“Oh.”

Tony pursed his lips, thinking deeply. A sound that was unique and could make easily. He couldn’t roar like Hiccup, he wasn’t even going to try that, but he could do something else, right? A certain soundtrack, that could do the trick. But which one? Or perhaps a certain word?

“You know, we can do this part later. Let me get him for you.” Hiccup placed her hands around her mouth again, and mimicked another roar. This roar was different, more growling and deeper. Like a Monstrous Nightmare.

A few seconds later, Dawn had finally stood up and ran to Tony, knocking him down. “Ah, whoa! Easy on the goods!”

   

  

**How To Fly Your Dragon**

“Okay, I think you can ride him now!” Hiccup said, gesturing to the dragon.

Tony’s eyes widened for the umpteenth time today, and he took a small step back, “Uh, I don’t think I’m quite there yet…”

“Of course you are! It’ll be amazing, I promise!”

This was more than Tony had bargained for. He was used to his suit; but he wasn’t sure a dragon would be quite the same. First of all, he wouldn’t be in control, not  _at_   _all_. He would be riding the back of a living creature. A creature with a brain and thoughts and a will.

“C’mon, climb up there, on his neck,” Hiccup said, “and mind you, don’t kick him or pull at his scales, he won’t like that…”

The dragon lowered its head, so that Tony could hoist himself onto its neck, not very gracefully. Hiccup climbed onto Toothless’ back and settled down comfortable. The Nightmare raised its head back up. Tony wasn’t sure where to hold on to; the neck was about the only thing he could grab.

“Uhm… Hiccup? Where am I supposed to hold on to?”

“Just hold on to his swept-back horns, as long as you don’t tug he’ll be fine.”

“Alrighty then,” Tony mumbled, he looked down at the dragon below him. The Monstrous Nightmare shook his head and growled; he was ready too.

Tony cleared his throat, “One for the money, two for the show, three because uh... uh... it comes before four. And here we go!”

Sixty-eight feet long wings flared open on either side of Tony, he just had time to grab the end of the horns in front of him before he was soaring upward. It was nothing like his suit, and Tony knew which one he preferred; the Nightmare’s neck moved along with its wing flapping, constantly moving up and down, and back and forth; he almost fell like he was going to fall off, and he didn’t dare get a stronger grip; instead of the smooth action of his Iron Man suit, he now felt himself rocking backward and forward as the hindquarters of the dragon rose and fell with its wings.

Every downbeat bucked the dragon’s neck, heaving them into the sky and Tony pressed his lips onto each other firmly. He could do this, he could do this. This was all for Hiccup. The Night Fury shot out beside them, wings cutting the air and sweeping through the sky like they had done nothing before.

Tony smiled at them, and they smiled back. He didn’t really like this way of flying, but this friendship was something he wanted to keep forever. Dragons weren’t dangerous, they were sweet and nice, they were friends. He had to find a way to show the others dragons and men were no sworn enemies, that they were perfectly capable of living together.

Somehow.

  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you go! Tony's trained a dragon! A Monstrous Nightmare named Dawntwister, it's awesome. The only problem is how he's gonna hide it from the others...  
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you next time!


	23. I Lost My Dragon And My Friends Can't Know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony's an inventor, Pepper's a badass, and Hiccup lost a dragon. It's a party in the USA!

It was a bit odd, being back at the compound after just having trained a dragon. The others said hi, he said hi back. They were all busy with their own things, the dragons, stones and the new alien party. Steve came bouncing at him, asking him where he had been in his usual, overly-worried way, and Tony ensured him he was perfectly fine. Just a little recon, no biggie.

He felt bad for lying to Steve, especially since the man was caring so much about everyone here. But he couldn’t tell them just yet. He needed a little more time. Time to figure everything out and get everything right. He knew that they would be furious, were they to find out before he told them. Because he had lied to them, broke their trust, trained a whole fucking dragon while they were trying to get rid of those animals.

It was no pretty looking future. But Tony was going to tell them, he really was. Just not yet. Not yet.

When they had landed after Tony’s bumpy flight, Hiccup had given him another piece of advice. It was a rather odd one, but Tony trusted her. Hiccup said that if he really wanted to scare a dragon away, he had to use eels.

Eels?

Yes, eels. For some reason, dragons _hated_ eels. Hiccup said they were terrified of those slimy creatures, and ran at the slightest of sights of them. She said that if he wanted the Whispering Death away from his house that badly, he should get himself a few eels and just hold it up before its nose when it came out of its holes.

She didn’t want to demonstrate it, because that would be unnecessary cruel to their own dragons, and since Tony hadn’t bonded that long with Dawntwister, holding up an eel could scare him away forever. They didn’t want that, so they left the eels. But Tony added those slimy fish to his grocery list, he told FRIDAY to order a few for him. How he was going to explain that to the team, he did not know.

“Tony, hey,” a familiar voice said.

Tony snapped up from his thoughts, turning around. He was met by a nicely familiar face. His lips curled up in a smile, “Pepper! Hey, how are you?”

“We’re good, thanks for asking,” another nicely familiar voice answered.

“Rhodey!”

His oldest, best friends walked at him, both giving him a hug. He sneaked a kiss on the lips in for Pepper. “It’s been a while, how are things?”

“Good,” Rhodey answered, “If you don’t count the killer dragons flying around. Pepper told me about it.”

Oh crap. Tony had told Pepper a day or so ago, but he hadn’t told Rhodey. He should have seen this coming. He should have known Pepper was going to tell Rhodey immediately, or at least call him up to ask him if he knew too. Tony had been struggling with finding a way to tell Rhodey.

_‘Hey, Rhodey, remember that bogey that took out those terrorists? Yeah well, it’s a dragon. And a Night Fury at that, the offspring of lightning and death itself!’_

His exact thoughts from a day or two ago. But apparently Pepper had solved that dilemma _for_ him. He didn’t know whether to feel nervous or relieved.

“That thing we were chasing at the Air-Force base, with the F-22 Raptors, that was a dragon too, right?” Rhodey asked, looking Tony directly in the eyes.

“Errr… yes.”

“What kind?”

“A Night Fury. Aka the unholy offspring of lighting and death itself. One of the most feared dragons to exist.”

Both Pepper and Rhodey looked at him like he was crazy. Tony shrugged a bit. “I haven’t known that for long either.”

“Does Director Fury know?” Pepper asked, “Or Phil?”

“First of all, his name is Agent, second, I think Steve has told Fury about it. Or any of the other Avengers. Fury knows everything, so I think we’re good. Here, allow me to inform what we’ve been up to for the last couple of days…”

Walking around the compound to say hello to everyone, Tony filled Rhodey and Pepper in on all the craziness they’ve come across these days. The dragons, the New Party that was Alien, Clint’s fight with one of those Aliens, Pietro’s fight with a Whispering Death (Pepper and Rhodey did not look happy when they heard that name). And more.

Clint was doing way better. Loki had given him a few more check-ups, but he was good to go. Pietro had healed a great deal also. He was running around annoying mostly Clint, and doing a lot of stuff with Wanda.

He told them about the Infinity Stones, and the plan of the Titan. Both Rhodey and Pepper became pale upon hearing that, and they offered to help out wherever they could. Pepper said she could double the security around the compound, and they _had_ to make sure Vision was not wondering off to unknown locations where aliens could get the drop on him. Rhodey offered the army’s help, with planes and tanks and everything.

Tony thanked them, but said they were handling it. If they ever needed help though, he would be sure to call them. This threat was big, the more people fighting it the better. He did tell them to be extra careful and stay on the lookout for shapeshifters. He told them not to trust anyone with any information anymore, unless they were a hundred percent certain the person they were talking to, was actually that person, and not a shapeshifter.

That could form a new problem. Who could they trust? Who was to say the people they talked to were humans, not aliens? Thor and Loki were aliens of course, duh, but he meant like shapeshifters. Pepper and Rhodey told him to stay clear of dragons, to be careful. They didn’t want him ending up as a dragon’s roasted snack. Tony told them not to worry, he was handling everything perfectly.

They said goodbye fairy quick after, because Pepper and Rhodey both had a lot of things to do. Tony was a bit sad at their fast departure, but it wasn’t like he was bathing in spare time either.

“If anyone needs me, I’ll be in my lab!” he told the rest of the team, before going down.

Dum-E chirped happily when he entered the lab, swinging his little claw at Tony. YOU also chirped, rolling closer to say ‘hi’ in his own, buzzing way. Tony loved those robots, and he wished to show them to Peter one day. He had told the kid about them, but had never come around to show him, because Peter hadn’t been in the Avengers Compound before.

Sitting down at the lab table, he pulled out some papers from a bag. He had asked Hiccup for some of her sketches, mainly of the tailfin, but also of the saddle. The whole construction, actually. He was fascinated by it. They were Vikings, their technology was thousands of years behind on Earth, but still Hiccup had managed to create things Earth hadn’t even thought about. A flaming sword, a shield that was a crossbow… and that amazing saddle-tailfin device.

He asked FRIDAY to deliver some material, and then went to work.

   

Tony tilted his nose into the air and sniffed a few times. Did he smell that right? Was that…

Steve walked up from behind him and put a plate with a sandwich on it on the table and then came it, the substance Tony could smell from a mile away: a cup filled with steaming hot, black coffee. The sandwich didn’t get any attention, Tony immediately reached out for the cup but Steve lifted it up shortly, then leaned against the table to look Tony in the eyes.

“This is all yours,” he said, and Tony reached out a little further, “If you take at least a few bites of the sandwich.”

Tony eyed the bread with tomato, salad, cheese, ham and cucumber. Oh, and mustard. It was a pretty fancy sandwich and Tony had to admit, if he had to take a few bites of this he wouldn’t really complain. There was only one problem…

“I’m not hungry.”

Steve put the cup down, but kept locking eyes with Tony. “When was the last time you ate something?”

Damn, Steve was onto him. He hadn’t eaten anything for quite some time, but he was used to that. It was almost funny how Steve was always trying to find a way to make Tony eat more, even if it was just a little. Little packages of blueberries, pancakes, a sandwich, fruit in general actually.

When he was busy Steve would pass him blueberries when he was working. Blueberries were small and very easy to eat. Tony would eat a lot of them without even really noticing. Perhaps a banana now and then. Apple slices too. Never a whole apple, probably because Steve knew he wouldn’t eat it if it was a whole apple because that was just so inconvenient. Slices were easier to eat.

Tony sighed and pulled the plate toward him. The sandwich was even cut in smaller pieces. It was cut into four pieces, Tony lifted up one and took a small bite from the corner. Then he put it back down and reached for the cup of coffee.

The other didn’t seem satisfied with that, but hey, a bite was a bite.

“I put work in this, you know?” Steve said, clearly jokingly offended.

“Nah, not _that_ much.”

Steve looked pretend hurt, he pulled the plate closer to himself to look at it. “How so? I worked on this for– for _three_ _years_!”

“But we only bought salad yesterday.”

“Oh. Right. Whatcha working on?”

Tony looked at the thing before him. Ah, awkward. He couldn’t explain to Steve what he was working on, as Steve would ask difficult questions and never understand. Luckily it wasn’t very clear what he was making yet. It just looked like some metal rods and some other things like little wheels, an axle and gear-like shaped fractions.

“Oh, nothing special. Just some lil’ design I’ve come up with. I’m probably not even going to use it…”

That wasn’t a lie, _he_ wasn’t going to use it. _Someone_ _else_ would, he hoped. If they liked it enough.

“Ah, looks interesting. Just take another bite occasionally, food won’t kill you. And make sure you drink enough.” Steve looked around shortly, “Opening a window wouldn’t hurt either.”

“Yes, it does. It causes me great agony.”

“Aw, you poor thing,” Steve reached out and ran a gentle hand through Tony’s hair, ruffling it up a bit.

Tony swatted his hand away, but left his hair messy. He didn’t mind. Steve left the lab again, and Tony continued working. It was a gift to a friend of his. He hoped they were friends, they were, right? Tony thought they were. Because she had done so much for him, Tony wanted to give her something in return. Something special.

   

Quite some hours later, he leaned back, knuckles cracking and satisfied with what he had made. He was actually pretty proud of his work, maybe about as proud as he was when he had made his first Iron Man suit! It wasn’t even anything close to a suit, but it was beautiful nonetheless. The black, strong leather strengthened with a little bit of nickel-titanium. Though it could still fold, because that was crucial.

The workmanship was stunning, though he said so himself. He wiped some imaginary dust of the black leather and smiled at his work. It always felt so great, finishing a project and then looking at the result, especially when it turned out exactly like he wanted. It was fan-shaped, the black leather being held together by metal rods.

It was a tailfin.

Tony had made Hiccup a new tailfin. And not just _any_ tailfin, a very special one.

This new tail consisted of a lever that would attach to the leading edge of Toothless' right tail fin so that he could control the left concurrently.

When his right tail fin was extended, the real one, so was the lever which was attached to a rotating wheel that rotated approximately 180 degrees. Another metal rod was attached from the rotating wheel to an 'egg-shaped' piece. A gear shaped like a fraction of a circle was attached by an axle on top of the 'egg-shaped' piece so that the rotation could turn the gear along the five cogs. The gear was meshed perpendicularly with a full-circle gear that would rotate and extend the tail fin.

He had made the tailfin as heavy as Toothless’ real fin (that was why he had been feeling the dragon’s tail earlier), and made it in a spitting imagine. He had taken a lot of inspiration from Hiccup’s previous tails, drawings and designs so the credit was all hers. He had just tinkered with that idea and made it into something a bit different.

He had more resources than she had, so naturally he could made more complicated things that fit in with the technology of Earth, of the present time. Hiccup had been tinkering with a fully Automatic Fin before, but she told him Toothless had rejected it because they were a team, not two solo flyers. Tony had drawn inspiration out of that too.

Hiccup still needed to install the fin herself, Tony didn’t know exactly how it had to be attached to the tail and the saddle, but he had made sure cables and pulleys could be fastened to the fin. Toothless would almost be able to fly with this fin on his own, but not quite.  If he wanted he could fly up a little and hover in the air, so it would make rescues easier, but to do the real tricks he would need Hiccup. He had taken her Automatic Fin and made it less individual.

The thing was, that if Hiccup would have added a manual stirrup to the by her made Automatic Fin, that would have allowed her to bypass the auto gear system to allow for more complex maneuvers, especially when in battle.

Tony made the ultimate cross between Automatic and normal fin. Toothless would be able to do basic flying by himself if the tailfin was locked, but if Hiccup controlled the tailfin together with him, they would be able to perform even the most complex maneuvers! It made Tony all giddy and he wanted to test this baby out so badly.

He would be sure to give it to Hiccup the next time they met.

His eyes glided away to the plate of sandwiches. He sucked a breath in through his teeth, he had entirely forgotten about the food. Again, he felt guilty towards Steve. He still wasn’t hungry at all, and after several hours those sandwiches had become hard, so he dumped the sandwiches in the trashcan. He left the tailfin down on the table, and took the stairs up to the living room.

Steve was trying hard, and Tony didn’t want to be ungrateful. So he figured he could spare a moment to chat with Steve about whatever, unless the man was busy, of course.

   

“So JARVIS Vac-U-Formed a digital wire frame for me, because I needed a manipulable projection. I saw it didn’t look unlike an atom. In which case the nucleus would be in the middle. I highlighted the unisphere. Then I got rid of the footpaths, the landscaping, the shrubbery, the trees, the parking lots, exits, entrances. Then I structured the protons and the neutrons using the pavilions as a framework. You keeping up so far?”

Steve nodded slowly, squinting his eyes for a moment. “I think so, you had a model of the 1974 Stark Expo, and your dad had hidden a new element in there.”

“Exactly! Now, then I had discovered the structure of that element but I had a whole lot more to do…”

Tony continued telling Steve all about the creation of the new element that was a substitution for the palladium in his chest. Tony had shown up and made a conversation with the Captain, it went smooth as whiskey and they talked for a while. Steve had always been curious to the glowing sphere in Tony’s chest, and today he had finally worked up the courage to ask Tony about it.

He hadn’t asked earlier because he was scared it was a personal thing, that Tony didn’t like to talk about. That it was a painful memory Tony didn’t want to be reminded about. It was partially true, Tony didn’t like to talk about the ‘why’ he had that thing in his chest, but he do loved to tell people about ‘how’ it worked. The tech behind it, the how of it all.

So he talked on about the metal, about the arc reactor technology, and how he was using it for all his suits. He had been willing to do so for quite a while more, because his mouth just kept running and Steve didn’t seem bored or annoyed at all (which encouraged him to talk more), when something made his heart stop beating in his chest for a moment.

A long snout, a slightly parted mouth with lots of teeth on full display, slowly moved in sight of the window Steve was sitting before. There was a horn on the tip of the nose, and the scales were a fiery red color. A full head appeared, two eyes and swept back horns. Nostrils flared, sniffing the air. The dragon turned its head, and Tony’s eyes became twice the size when he recognized the scale color pattern.

It was Dawntwister!

The dragon caught sight of him, and let out a happy growl. Because there was double glass in the windows, and the window was closed, the sound sounded somewhat faint. But it was enough for Steve to frown deeply and he _started to turn around, FUCK._

In a split second, Tony’s last two brain cells came up with a solution. He slammed his hands down on the table they were sitting at and let out a scream. In shock, Steve turned back around, eyes wide.

“STEVE! I’M PREGNANT!” Tony yelled.

“Excuse me?” Steve asked, looking both slightly scared and utmost confused. Tony was making wild gestures with his arms, that were meant to chase Dawntwister away from the window. But to Steve he just looked dramatic and like an idiot. Tony swinging his arms wildly was scaring Steve a bit.

“You’re the father!”

That seemed to confuse the soldier even more. “But- but we’ve never-”

Tony raised his eyebrows, “That’s the only thing that doesn’t seem logically to you?”

Dawntwister finally got the message and turned away from the window, disappearing ‘somewhere’. Steve shortly turned around, seeing nothing was there, and then looked back at Tony. “Tony, what was that?”

“What was what?” Tony asked, nonchalantly sitting back in the chair and laying his hands in his lap.

“That screaming and the arm gestures?”

“Uh… You see… I- uh…”

The door flew open with such force it slammed against the wall and Rhodey stormed inside. His breath was fast and eyes wide. “Guys- come, now! Pepper! Dragon!”

There was a split-second of shock before Tony and Steve both jumped into action. Steve with so much force his chair tipped back, but no one cared. While they ran after Rhodey, Tony prayed to God it wasn’t Dawntwister Pepper had run into. If Dawntwister hurt Pepper, he would never forgive himself. If a dragon _he_ had trained hurt Pepper, that would be on him. He would blame it on himself, it would be _his_ fault. Dawn was his responsibility.

To his horror, they ran straight at the backyard. Sam was flying around high above the ground. Flying around the head of a dragon. One thing was for sure, it wasn’t Dawntwister. But this was no better. Sam was flying around the head of the Whispering Death. Apparently, it had chosen this moment to come out of hiding. And Pepper was standing right before it.

Pepper stared wide-eyed at the dragon, stepping back a bit. The Whispering Death hissed, its mouth unable to close and therefore the giant rows of teeth were always visible and threatening.

“Pepper, get out of there!” Tony yelled.

Sam swooped down, kicking at the dragon. But it turned its head and nearly bit Sam’s legs off.

“Sam, watch out!” Steve yelled.

The dragon dodged another one of Sam’s attacks, hissing loudly and turning its attention back to Pepper. The dragon opened its mouth, the teeth rotating and making that annoying, eerie noise that scared the crap out of all of them. Its bulging eyes stood angry, and its spines were up.

Pepper then did something none of them had expected. She opened her handbag, groped around in it and took out a little bottle. Her finger rested on the top and she held it out towards the dragon. As it came closer, she pressed the top and a liquid spray came out of it. It had a far reach for something that small, and it hit the dragon in its giant face.

The dragon had big, bulging eyes so it wasn’t hard to miss. The spray hit the dragon where it hurt most when hit with that kind of things, and it screamed as it jerked back from Pepper. Tony, Rhodey and Steve watched with slacked jaws as the dragon moved away fast from her, diving into one of its holes to seek cover.

Tony rushed at the woman, who picked her handbag back up and swiped some dirt off of it, looking like nothing had happened, although she was trembling a bit. She straightened her hair a bit, and turned to Tony. The calmness that rested in her appearance, was nowhere to be found in her eyes.

“Pepper! What the hell did you do?!” Tony asked, panting a little.

She raised the bottle, showing it to him, “I used my pepper spray, what the hell was that thing?!”

“A dragon! I told you about it!”

“ _That’s_ a dragon?! I thought we were going to see things like- I don’t know, Smaug or that luck dragon from the Never Ending Story!”

Tony held his hands up to calm her, laying them down on her biceps. He wanted to tell her that Smaug was probably a whole lot scarier than this dragon, but he kept his mouth shut about that. Instead, he said, “Pep, hey, it’s alright. Just come with me quickly before the Whispering Death comes back out, alright?”

“That’s the Whispering Death?! I thought it was way smaller!”

The ground trembled, cloths of dirt and stones were flung around when the large snake-creature emerged from the ground, angrier than before. Tony held Pepper close, looking wide-eyed at the giant creature before them, as it hissed and snarled. They held their hands up, getting hit with some dirt.

God, it was _so_ weird how one moment, dragons could look like friendly bears, maybe appearing scary but they were sweethearts, and at other moments they were just monster creatures wanting nothing else than to kill. This dragon was pissed off all the time, it was super big, could shoot fire and spines, and its many, many teeth could rotate.

“Pepper, run!” Tony yelled, pulling her to the compound.

The Whispering Death fired a blast of fire at the place they wanted to run towards, so they were cut off. Tony let out a startled cry, and they ran the other way.

A loud roar, different from the eerie hiss that the Whispering Death made, vibrated through the air. A second shadow was cast on the ground before them, and a large creature pounced onto the snake dragon. The second dragon had scales a fiery red, pitch black and streaks of yellow color. Tony’s eyes widened, Dawntwister!

The Monstrous Nightmare and Whispering Death tumbled to the side, away from the two humans, locked in a toothy, vicious fight. The Whispering Death tried to bite the Monstrous Nightmare, but the Nightmare had a large reach and paws to kicks the Death off of him. They snapped jaws, growling viciously. The Nightmare planted himself between Tony and the other dragon, raising up high to burst into flames.

His mouth opened widely and the Nightmare let out a loud, almost window-shattering roar. The Whispering Death already had poor eyesight, but because of the pepper-spray, it could see even less. It only heard the roars and snarls, felt claws and teeth drag across its hide. The Whispering Death dove into the ground, circling around the Nightmare from underground, only to burst up again somewhere else.

The Nightmare spewed out a large, powerful fire blast at the other dragon, knocking it backwards. The Whispering Death hissed, snarling and spikes standing up. Dawnwister lunged and roared... causing the Whispering Death to relent and back away.

While Tony was relieved, Pepper was not at all. Tony realized that Pepper had no idea this dragon was friendly to them, wasn’t going to hurt them. He had to do something! Quick! Before the other Avengers came back to hurt Dawn!

A roar emerged from the forest, and Dawn turned toward it, answering it with a cry of his own. Then, to Tony’s relieve, he flew away. But not before looking at Tony, and giving him a soft purr. Pepper gripped tight onto Tony’s shirt, but nothing happened. Dawntwister took off, wings flapping hard as he rose up into the air, disappearing into the forest.

Steve ran at them, asking again and again if they were okay. Tony narrowed his eyes at the forest, and told him yes. He was okay.

   

  

Pepper was inside with Rhodey and Steve, drinking a cup of calming vanilla tea. Tony was outside, avoiding the Whispering Death area, but staring at the forest instead. Pepper had been an absolute badass, she had pepper-sprayed a fucking _dragon._ A DRAGON. And not just any dragon, a Whispering Death! A dragon Hiccup said to be extremely viscous and practically untrainable.

To the left in his line of vision, a familiar shape snuck past the border of trees. A brown and black outfit, slender frame, brown hair in a braid. Tony looked around shortly, to see if anyone was watching him, then sped at the trees. He pushed a few branches aside and worked his way through a bush, ending up before Hiccup. The Viking youth was looking a bit stressed.

“Hiccup!” Tony hissed, “What the heck is happening? Why is Daw- the dragon here?!”

Saying his name might call the dragon to him, and Tony did not want that. Dawntwister had to stay safely in the forest, away from the danger that were his teammates. He knew the other Avengers would mean well when they attacked the dragon for being here, they would obviously think the dragon was dangerous and would attack them, but Tony knew that wasn’t the case at all.

“I don’t know!” Hiccup hissed back, “One moment he’s at the cabin, and the next he’s gone! I’ve been looking for him for hours! Then I realized that he must be here!”

“Why didn’t you sent a text?!”

“Yeah uh,” Hiccup said, sounding a bit awkward, “I tried. But I can’t read it. And I can’t write anything either. I don’t understand your words.”

Tony almost hit himself against his forehead for being so stupid. Of course! Of course she couldn’t read nor write, she didn’t have the English alphabet like they did! She wrote and read Norse, but spoke English because it was more convenient. She spoke Norse with her tribe and stuff, but lots of other people spoke English so she was very good at that language. But they didn’t know Norse.

“Tony? You still there?”

He snapped out of his thoughts, “Yeah, yeah, uh, I just realized what you said. Guess you’ll have to go back to school, huh?”

“I think your school and my school are very different.”

“Why so?”

Hiccup chuckled, “At first it was killing dragons, then training them. But you could also sort of ‘study’ for becoming a blacksmith or something else. You just learned a trade.”

“But what about writing and reading?”

“Your parents. Where do _you_ learn writing and reading?”

“At school. But that’s not important right now! What are we gonna do about Dawn?”

“I don’t know! I called him here, but then he wondered off again and I don’t know where.”

A purr made him spook up. Toothless padded closer, pressing his nose against Tony’s hip, rubbing his head against the human. Tony laid his hand down on the black dragon’s head, the green orbs looked up at him, pupils large and round, like a little puppy.

“He was worried about you,” Hiccup said, “Nearly jumped in there to safe you himself.”

“Speaking of Toothless, I made you something that might be of use! It’s a new tailfin, which looks like the automatic one, but you have to steer it manually still, so it’s like something in between. I hope you like it, it’s inside.”

Tony was just throwing that out there. He had a present, and he really wanted Hiccup to use it. That would be awesome. But they also had to do something about Dawn, not to mention the Whispering Death. And the fact Hiccup and Toothless were standing _so_ close to the Avengers Compound. He saw her gaze wonder off to the large building many times, the curiousness in her eyes undeniable.

“Oh wow- Tony, thank you so much. You really didn’t have to.”

“Yeah yeah yeah, I know. But I did. I like to make things. Okay, new plan. I go get that new tailfin for you, and you go looking for Dawntwister, alright? Toothless has to stay hidden.”

Hiccup nodded, and turned to her dragon. She held her hands up before her, palms pointed towards the ground. Then she slowly moved her hands down. Toothless’ ears perked up, and he lowered to the ground too. Pressed himself against the mossy forest floor, staying entirely silent. Tony ran at the building, while Hiccup stayed at the line of trees to look for Dawn.

   

“Dawn!” Hiccup hissed, “Dawn! Where are you?”

She twirled about, gazing up at the canopy, searching for the large, fire breathing dragon that was around here somewhere. He could not have gotten far. The sun broke through the cracks, lighting up the dirt path ahead of her. The fallen leaves crunched beneath her feet, making more noise than she liked.

There was more crunching of leaves, but she assumed it was either the wind or herself. Perhaps even a wild animal. There were tons of those in a forest. Well, maybe not on Midgard. There were less wild animals here, she noticed that. She hadn’t come across any boars or deer, which was a bit strange. She had come across a Terrible Terror, Dart, but he didn’t count. He wasn’t from here.

Again a crunch, and a twig snapped. Hiccup looked down from the canopy of trees, looking left and right. Nothing. She picked up her pace, still calling Dawn’s name. She hoped he hadn’t gone back to that large building, but was somewhere close in the forest, where those Avengers couldn’t get to him.

She spun around a tree… and bumped right into someone. She heard a faint _oompf_ and she stopped dead in her tracks. A boy, slightly taller than her, with white hair and striking blue eyes stood before her. He looked her up and down, and Hiccup knew she was screwed.

“Hello, who are you?” the boy asked. He had a funny accent. Unlike any other she had ever heard before.

“Uh, no one,” Hiccup answered, going around him quickly to continue searching for the Monstrous Nightmare.

“No one? Funny name.” The boy had caught up with her immediately. “What are you looking for?”

“An animal, his name is Dawn. I need to find him.”

She just told him, he was not going to suspect she was talking about a dragon anyway.

“Hmm, why are you wearing those funny clothes?”

“I don’t know, why is your hair white?”

“Because I was experimented on. I am very fast now too.”

The boy ran around her. But it wasn’t normal running. It was like he turned into blue lightning and he literally flashed around her. Her eyes widened. This was that speedster guy Tony had told her about! That guy who got hurt by the Whispering Death! Oh great. She had bumped into an Avenger. And exactly the Avenger who got hurt and didn’t like dragons because of that.

“That’s… _amazing_ ,” she said, and she was honest, but she really had to go find Dawntwister. She had no time to talk with strange fast boys. Especially not considering this fast boy was an Avenger, and she wanted to stay hidden from those.

“I can help you find your animal, yes?” the boy asked.

“Uh, thanks for the offer, but I’ll have to decline. I can find him myself, thank you.”

“There are dangerous animals here, it is not wise to search alone. I can help.”

 She knew she wouldn’t be able to shake him off. He was super-fast, so he could easily catch up with her. But she had to lose him, because otherwise she wouldn’t be able to find Dawn and take him with her. Not to mention Toothless was hidden in the bushes somewhere near. They couldn’t find him either, or it would be over immediately.

Her last hope was Tony. Tony who was getting a half-automatic tailfin for her that he had made. She had to let him know he had to go look for Dawn, because she couldn’t leave. Plus she had to make a cover for herself, or this boy would find out she wasn’t exactly normal. He was probably going to ask her for her name, and what would she say?

This was all such a mess.

  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this took long, but here ya go! A fresh chapter to feast upon! I will be moving the plot forward a bit faster. People are gonna start to find out!!


	24. Deep In The Dark

They came by automobiles, their tires smooth and silent on the asphalt road, and there was a predatory grace to some of them that were similar to his own. He watched from high in the trees as they stopped, opening doors and stepping out. There were multiple vehicles, black as night with black windows also. He watched how they walked the dense forest paths, staying close to one another. He watched silently.

He knew his rider was to be back in a day or so. She had important things to do, with the metal man and his new dragon friend that had escaped The metal man knew not how to take care of one, or how to properly hide it, so they were sorting that out, and the dragon of night was content to stay at the cabin. He would do anything for his rider, so waiting a while was nothing.

It made him think about the days before their friendship. Before he had her. Before he had any friends. He had been lonely, controlled by the hum of the Queen of Dragons. The Red Death. Even then his dragon brothers and sisters had never shown much interest in making friends.

It was every dragon for itself.

But that changed after she came. He was happy she came into his life, changing everything. Changing their way of doing and being. It was much better now. Much more peaceful. He had friends, and family.

As he sat on the thick branches of the tallest pine tree he could find, he twitched his tail to feel the familiar press of metal and hide against his scales. It was a different one from before, this one was the exact same weight as his real tail fin… perhaps not exact, but the difference was negligible. It was the same color as his scales, black like the night.

It was a special tailfin. He could use it to fly without his rider. He’s had one of those before, but he turned it down, destroyed it. If he couldn’t fly with Hiccup, he didn’t want to fly at all. They were one. Always. But this tail was different, he could use it well enough to get himself up into the air, to potentially save himself or his rider, but he needed Hiccup in order to fly like a true dragon. Hiccup had brought him here, then with the metal man she drove back in an automobile to the big house of metal man’s friends.

They talked about a boy with white hair, and how he had followed his rider around. The dragon had seen the boy, almost pounced onto him because he would not leave his rider alone. But metal man solved things, said she was his friend and then left with her. They also talked about ‘letting the world know’, the dragon was not sure what they meant with that.

His head dipped in, how he missed his island. He missed the shouting Vikings and how simple things had been back then. He missed the large mountain, and he missed the familiarity of it all. He remembered when men walked his own island, many days ago, with weapons and beards and fires of their own.

They came, and went, like the wind and the rain, and he watched from the pines and the night sky. He did not engage, just watched silently. Not many times did people come by, especially not in the night. They were not hostile, there was no need to stop them. No need to do anything. Yet.

Until today. Until the black automobiles stopped close by. Until two stepped foot in his territory, with swift steps and quiet hands, pounding hearts and hushed voices. His ears perked up, eyes wide open and watching from his hidden place in the tree. The two were walking fast, but tension hung in the air. One was walking before the other, hands up in the air, the other held something pointed at the first.  

The second man had a gun in his one hand and a light in his other. He was a danger to the first, an enemy. The first man, with the hands up, smelled familiar, but the Fury of the Night could not quite place why. The wind carried a long forgotten scent with it, up to his nose where he breathed it in with trembling nostrils. Not sure whether it was good familiar, or bad familiar. Just… familiar.

Three other men appeared into view shortly after, they seemed to be with the man with the gun. Also dangerous, not friendly. A small group of enemies. The dragon had seen them before. They had been here a previous time, where they had been trying to bury something. The dragon had chased them away.

Something else caught his attention. Though he did not believe in ghosts he couldn’t help but stare and wonder when a sixth person slid across the hillside, not more than a shadow accompanied by a hundred other shadows. This person moved gracefully, using each and every shadow to their advantage. It was like they were one with the shadows, moving left and right and weren’t it that the dragon could see in the dark, he would have lost visual on this person.

His ears twitched and turned to the shadow. It was a female. She was graceful in every movement she made, completely silent against the faint sounds of the night. The Fury puffed a breath at a midnight bird that had landed on the branch close to him. Its tweeting was annoying him. The bird was spooked by the sudden appearance of a giant dragon sitting there already and took off fast.

Again, his ears twitched. The two persons that had arrived first murmured to each other. The light in the man’s hand shone through the forest for a moment, but settled in the face of the person who held his hands up. Two males. One male was long and slender, the other shorter and more bulky. Their speech was soft but audible to draconian ears.

The shadow that was a woman was now standing close, only one tree keeping her from standing before the males, entirely silent. The five males noticed nothing. The Fury of the Night watched in silence, not even his ears moving anymore. The woman suddenly pounced at the man with the gun. She punched him and did a very complicated move. She wrapped his legs around the man’s neck and underneath his shoulder, then flipped back, re-positioning her legs again… it went too fast to clearly see what happened, even for the Fury of the Night.

The man with the weapon was sent to the ground, but he still had his gun. And as he climbed up, aimed it at the two. The male and the female, but mostly at the male. The other three enemies did too. Yet they did not aim guns, but knives.

The Fury knew the look of smugness, on faces long remembered, thinking they had won and had the upper hand. But there was a fury on the woman’s face. An ice cold look filled with fury that would chill even the hearts of Skrills and Monstrous Nightmares alike. There was a gun against the tall man’s head again, a gun in the redhead’s hands that she was forced to drop to the ground, and their speech of new parties, enemies and money was carried towards him by the ever blowing wind.

The Dragon of Night tasted the air, sniffing what the wind brought him. Still he did not know, good familiar or bad familiar? The man who aimed weapons were bad familiar, that he was sure of. But the two captured he was not sure. They did not seem bad, and bound to protect one another. The Dragon of the Night could see himself in that.

His rider valuated the lives of men, said them to be precious and each one unique in their own way. Once lost, it was never to be retrieved.

But the Fury of Night believed the time to fight had come.

There was a soft moaning coming from the branches when he moved, calling the attention of the humans down on the ground. The light shone into the tree shortly, but his large, leathery wings made sure he remained hidden. The moment the light disappeared again, and hushed voices were carried all around the place six people stood, he crouched, breathed, and leaped off with barely any sound coming from the tree.

The wind was crisp and fresh, the scent of a new day dawning, salted by the wind blowing from the ocean and spiced by the scent of the many pine trees.

 

* * *

 

This wasn’t the way both Natasha and Clint had expected the night to go. They had expected the whole Clint’s being held hostage thing, as it was part of the plan, and Natasha had snuck after them like a ghost. But the plan had been to be taken to some remote cabin or a warehouse, not a freaking _forest_. But whatever. It meant they had to improvise a bit, so _what_? They could do that, no problem.

The American HYDRA agent took them deeper into the forest, a gun to Clint’s head, three others following him. Clint hated holding his hands in the air; it felt humiliating and like he was helpless. His bow had been taken away and was now slung across the agent’s chest. Clint scrunched his nose at it, when they were home he was going to test out if his bow fit in the washing machine. He hoped it did. Both SHIELD agents hoped HYDRA would make a mistake so they could take them out.

Clint knew he should have stayed in bed, not go on this mission. But Pietro was annoying him so much, and he was so bored. He didn’t want to stay home and do nothing, they finally had a lead! Or so they thought. He and Natasha had seen it on TV, Tony had told the press about the presence of dragons in their world, and told them to stay calm and leave the dragons to themselves. If they did that, there would be no problem.

And that was right after Tony had somehow chased a Monstrous Nightmare away from their home. How he had done it, no one could say. It was like the dragon was either scared of him for some reason, or did what he said. But neither seemed likely. Natasha had narrowed her eyes at it, but said nothing. Tony had told the TV and an hour later it was all over the news. Not long after the big revelation, Natasha and Clint had gotten a new lead. That part they had expected.

The part they hadn’t been expecting, though, was the part where something else swooped in.

Natasha had ghosted them, and she had taken her chances when they stopped in the middle of the forest. They actually weren’t that far away from one of Tony’s many houses, Natasha knew. Her time as undercover secretary had paid off, so she knew quite some things about Tony Stark, including the locations of his houses. It had been of his parents actually, a little vacation house, never used again because of the memories. So it probably stood empty.

When she attacked the men holding Clint captive, the one with the gun, it was one of the rare times she failed. She had worked him to the ground with a fancy, complicated move, but he managed to hold on to his gun and had pointed it at Clint before she could kick him unconscious. The others had no guns, in that the two assassins were lucky, but those men did have knives.

So they both stood waving their arms in the air now. The HYDRA soldier had his gun mostly at Clint, telling Natasha to stay still. They tried to get some information out of him, about the New Party that had shown up, but wasn’t HYDRA or Ten Rings. They knew it was dangerous, it had taken over several HYDRA and Ten Ring operations in the last few weeks, and SHIELD was trying to find out if HYDRA even knew who those guys were. SHIELD did, but they wanted to know if HYDRA did too. Every single person of HYDRA they interrogated did not.

Though this right here, this conversation, it was strange. This man wasn’t even talking about HYDRA, it didn’t seem to matter to him. Natasha knew he was ‘retired’, but it was like as if he had forgotten all about his previous job. He was talking about making a sacrifice for the greater good.

Both Natasha and Clint were looking at him as if he was crazy. He talked about a monster that lived in this forest, and they were sending it people to eat so it wouldn’t eat them. They said they had seen the news item on the TV, about monsters from another world roaming Earth. It was also why they didn’t have more guns, they didn’t want to threaten the Black Death. Ridicules, of course.

Or not?

It was going to be an action report for SHIELD’s ‘Fact or Fiction’ wall, no doubt. The dragon had dropped down from the dense pine tree, like a silent death. They all saw it for a second or two before it was gone again; merely a shadow that swept across the field and along the dark trees. Though silent like a shadow, it brought down three of the smugglers in a flapping of wings and hissing of knife-sharp claws.

They could do nothing but stare, Clint and Natasha from their hostage position and the man who had the gun muttered a silent prayer, praying to God if He could protect him from the Black Death. They watched as a black shade under the cover of the night took out three of the four criminals Natasha and Clint had been sent after to take out.

No words would ever be able to describe what it was like when the dragon stepped into their view. The three agents had been carrying lanterns, that had fallen to the ground with them. They now shone their light at the pitch black dragon, stepping closer at them. They could see it fully now, not just a black blur somewhere high in the sky like last time. With piercing, unquestionably intelligent green orbs for eyes, it was staring at them. The pupils were black slits, like an angry cat, and Clint felt like he was going to faint any moment.

Its wings were flared a bit, its ears twitching and it stretched out its neck, head dipping down slightly. Its mouth opened, many fangs gleaming in the white light of the moon, reflecting a vague red from the lanterns. For a moment, time stopped, and all they could do was watch the big dragon, that now stood still too.

Then a purple glow lighted up in the back of the dragon’s throat, illuminating the ground below and the air around. Clint’s and Natasha’s eyes widened, as they recognized the high-pitched zooming sound and the purple glow. They immediately dropped themselves down to the ground, curling up into balls and arms protecting their head.

A zoom. A blast. A scream.

Clint squeezed his eyes closed. Pounding footsteps. Another blast. A snarl and a roar. He pressed his hand to his ear, trying to lock the loud sounds out. He knew they had to run, but that thing would catch up with them in a second. They could never be fast enough. Maybe if they dropped to the ground and played dead…

He was lying face to face with Natasha, only she lay a small distance away. When it turned silent, he waited a few seconds. Counting slowly to ten in his head. Only then did he dare to shift his hand away from his ear and opened his eyes. He did _not_ like what he saw. Natasha was lying on her side too, legs pulled up a bit and arm across her head. Her face wasn’t covered, which might be worse because now Clint clearly saw the look of terror she plastered all over her face.

The big, black dragon was standing right behind her, at the place where she wouldn’t be able to see him without turning her head. She stayed incredibly still.

The dragon moved its head so its nose was almost touching Natasha’s hair, with its large, glowing orbs for eyes the red hair was almost glowing red in the dark, the fire of the lanterns giving just enough light for them to see each other. The dragon sniffled her hair, then nudged her head. Natasha cramped up.

It whined softly, almost sounding sad. Natasha did not move. It whined again, nudging her head harder. He then lifted up a paw, placing it on the shoulder that pointed into the air, as the other was pressed against the ground, and pulled her back to she was lying on her back now. Her head was still turned toward Clint, and the terror on her face grew. The dragon did not attack, though, so that was a good thing.

It did whine again, sniffing her neck and face. Natasha closed her eyes when the dragon pressed its nose against her cheek. Its paw had come up and was softly patting her shoulder. It leaned back again, looking around itself a bit before it whined once more. It bumped its head against Natasha’s side, whines becoming more desperate. Natasha had opened her eyes again and was looking back at Clint, who was about to call himself crazy for the thought that had popped up in his head.

‘Move’ he mouthed to her, no sound leaving his throat.

‘What?!’ she mouthed back, her expression confused and almost shocked.

‘Move’ he mouthed again, nodding the slightest and sending her a look at said, _trust me_. 

He had seen this kind of behavior before. When he was younger he had a neighbor who had a dog. His neighbor had this thing where he had a low blood pressure by nature and he fainted rather often. His dog was pretty distressed every time that happened. When his owner went down, he’d start barking and whining, nudging his owner, licking his face, everything to get a reaction. When his owner woke up again, the dog would be filled with happiness and lick his owner’s whole face in his glee.

Natasha swallowed thickly, then she slowly moved. The dragon made a gurgling sound, taking a step back. Natasha opened her eyes, avoiding eye contact, and came up very slowly. The dragon brought his nose closer and sniffed again, then he walked away from Nat… but toward Clint!

The archer pressed his eyes shut. It didn’t take long before he felt a wet nose nudge his neck and the side of his face. He too, was turned onto his back. There came whining and more nudging. He felt a paw tap his chest.

 _Alright, here we go_ , he thought, and he opened his eyes.

For a second, he looked right into the eyes of the beast. The eyes staring at him were the farthest thing from human he’d ever seen in his life, and by far the most beautiful; they were a strange, unearthly poison-green, glowing bright through the shadows of the forest and the night.

Then he looked away, slowly and carefully coming up too.

Natasha and Clint both came up to their feet, walking towards each other and warily watching the black dragon. A groan made them all spook up. The HYDRA agent with the gun slowly awoke, meaning the dragon hadn’t killed him. The agent sat up, looking around. But before he could even do anything the dragon wacked him against his head with its tailfins and he went down again.

The jet black dragon stared at the both of them, sitting on his haunches and not making a single sound. It just sat there, and watched. Natasha and Clint stared back.

The archer moved one of his legs, placing it a few inches away from his other, crunching leaves underneath his foot. The dragon’s head titled to the side a little, its one ear twitching. Its gaze went toward Clint’s shoe briefly, then back to the face of the two agents.

The two Avengers shared a look, both having no idea what to do. This dragon was watching them like it expected something out of them, both neither of them had any clue what that could be. What did they have that a dragon wanted? What could they do that a dragon needed?

“Hungry?” Clint whispered.

Natasha glared at him, Clint didn’t know why until she whispered back, “Clint, there’s a dragon!”

“Not us, _him_!” he made the tiniest of gestures at the dragon before them.

She then shrugged, having no idea. Her hand went up to tuck a strand of red hair behind her ear. The dragon followed her movements. Then, with a soft rumble, it approached her. She did not move an inch when he did, standing still as a statue.

Running away could trigger the dragon into attacking. It was like with cats and mice. Not many knew, but when cats had eyes on a prey, the fleeing of the prey triggered the cats into chasing them. As long as the mouse or bird did not move, the cat didn’t either, and they were safe for a little longer. They hoped the same would go for this predator. As long as they did not move, it would not be triggered into attacking.

But then the dragon did move, yet its careful, small steps did not seem threatening. It looked… curious. The dragon seemed like it was about as wary of them as they were of him. Its steps were slow, and its body was low to the ground, eyes flicking back and forth between the two assassins.

“Night Fury?” Clint whispered.

“I think so,” Natasha whispered back.

It was black and big. But not as big as the Whispering Death in their backyard. Thank God. It was a tiny bit less scary now they had actual eyes on the dragon, but its appearance was still enough to frighten them. It wasn’t flying through the sky, covered by a blanket of darkness, too fast to see properly, but it was still quite intimidating.

The poison green of its eyes against the pitch black of its scales was almost hypnotizing.

It stood so close to Natasha now, that she could touch its head if she reached her arm out. Which she didn’t, quite obviously. It stood up on its hind legs, stretching its upper body out so he stood taller than before. Like that, he was bigger than Nat, his wings flaring out this slightly. But she fearlessly stared right back at him, as if to say ‘I am not afraid to defend myself’.

Her arms were down along her sides, shoulders pressed back a bit so she seemed taller too, one leg just before the other, feet directly underneath her shoulders. A power-pose. She was showing him she wasn’t scared, but doing it silently, so he didn’t feel like he was being challenged to a fight.

Natasha didn’t want to challenge the dragon, she just wanted to show him she was no easy prey. She was willing to fight back, to defend herself.

The dragon and the assassin looked each other in the eye for a few more seconds, Clint awkwardly third-wheeling. The dragon rose a little bit more, its wings flaring further. Natasha still stared fearlessly back, her eyes narrowing slightly and her look determined. She wasn’t scared. Yeah _okay_ , she was _terrified_ , but she acted like she wasn’t, as it could probably smell fear. And even though she was terrified, she would have no problem pulling out a knife and trying to take the dragon down with her if it were to attack her.

The dragon then dropped back to all fours, its mouth closed. He purred, looking at the woman before him with soft eyes. He took a few steps closer, walking past Natasha’s side, rubbing his head against her hip like a kitten before circling around her so he eventually stood against her other hip, black scales pressed against black fabric. He was now curled around her like a cat, still purring.

She reached out, carefully placing her hand on his broad head. He purred, closing his eyes briefly. Natasha let out a breath, not believing what was happening.

“I think he likes me,” she said, her voice normal. The dragon purred louder, almost like he could understand her.

“I think he does,” Clint reacted, eyes wide and jaw slacked.

The dragon turned its head toward him, the purring stopped. Its wings flaring slightly as it trotted toward the archer, its nose up in the air to sniff a few times. “Oh God.”

It didn’t do anything but rubbing its head against Clint’s stomach, giving another purr. Then it stepped back, regarding the two humans before him again. They joined sides. “Nat, punch me, I must dreaming… OW! Why did you do that?”

Clint rubbed his upper arm where Natasha had just hit her fist against. The dragon’s eyes perked up and it let out some sort of breathy growling that sounded suspiciously much like laughing. “Okay, not dreaming. But did we just… befriend a dragon?”

She nodded a few times, “I think we did.”

Her eyes narrowed slightly, letting Clint know that she was thinking about something, something that most luckily was off in her eyes. “What?”

“It’s so nice to us…” Natasha began slowly, “and knew exactly who to hit of all of us. It could be that it was protecting its territory, but it didn’t hurt us one bit, while we’re clearly also intruders. And it seems so… tame.”

They shared looks, “You think it’s been… ‘befriended’ before?”

“Maybe.”

“Who should we call?”

“Tony,” Natasha said immediately.

“I’ve been suspecting for a while that he knows more about dragons than he lets on,” she added, after seeing Clint’s confused look, “He’s always disappearing, and yesterday with that Monstrous Nightmare it seemed like it was listening to him. He knows something.”

“Tony it is,” Clint said, as he reached in his pocket for his phone. He tapped a few times on the screen, searching the right phone number. He then put the phone to his ear and waited.

“Tony? Hi, it’s Clint. Yeah, I know what hour it is, listen – yes we are on a mission in – yes, yes, no – Nat’s with me, yeah, but listen, about the mission – no, listen, we-”

Natasha plucked the phone from his hand and pressed it against her own ear. “ _Hi_ , Tony,” she said, deliberately letting her voice sound like it was soaked in ice water. “We just befriended a dragon in the forest. A Night Fury, actually. But something tells me someone’s done that before. You wouldn’t know anything about a tamed Night Fury, do you?”

There was a short silence and in that silence Natasha grinned at Clint like a cat who got the canary.

“I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic, Romanov, you sound a bit tired. Is the lack of sleep playing tricks on your mind? Night Furies are incredibly dangerous, we all know that,” Tony answered on the other end, but his tone was too airy, and he had hesitated for too long, telling them both that Natasha had hit the bullseye.

“Uhuh, that’s why I’m surprised it’s so kind to us. I bet that if we follow it, we’ll end up in your house not too far from our current location.”

“That’s quite the bet you’re willing to make, you sure you’re not overstepping your game?” Tony said back, sounding confident but she could see right through that.

“Nope.” She popped the ‘p’ and passed the phone over to Clint.

“Hi Tony,” Clint said again.

“Clint, this is a joke, right?” Tony asked, immediately after Clint said ‘Hi’.

“I wish,” he replied, because the black creature was currently frolicking around Natasha like an overly friendly puppy- a puppy that could rip them apart, crush, or deep-fry them in merely a few seconds. A puppy that looked more like a kitten than a puppy.

He could still hear the zooming sound echoing in his ears, and then the blast of a few minutes ago. The one that had blasted the HYDRA agent holding a gun to his head a few foot away. The agent was lying unconscious on the grass, not dead. His friends weren’t dead either. They probably had to tie them up before they would cause any more trouble.

Clint tucked the phone between his ear and his shoulder and his hands groped about his belt for handcuffs. Any kind would be great. His gaze was still trained on the massive and decidedly _not_ fantasy creature now letting Natasha scratch his chin. He seemed to really like that, as he purred and closed his – its? – eyes in a bliss.

“He’s so cute,” Natasha cooed, when the dragon’s tongue lolled from his mouth. It purred louder.

“Hey, Stark, I think it digs Natasha,” he told the billionaire, “So start talking.”

There was a silence, and Clint almost thought he had won before Tony spoke up again. “Sure he does, I don’t believe you. Give me proof, or I’m gonna hang up.”

Like an actually puppy, the dragon was pushing itself closer and closer to Natasha, arching up in her touch as she scratched his neck.

Deciding this was the perfect moment, Clint video-called Tony, then flipped the screen so Tony was looking at Natasha and the Night Fury. Clint couldn’t help but laugh at Tony’s shocked face. If Natasha was getting in this dragon’s good grades, enemies beware. The Black Widow _and_ a Night Fury? Team Deadly.

Tony let out a groan and massaged his forehead. “Alright, alright. You know where my house is? Go there.”

“What’s his name?” Natasha asked, still scratching the dragon.

“Toothless.”

Clint was just about to say, ‘Haha, funny’, when the dragon’s ears perked up and he trotted over at Tony. He gurgled at Tony on the screen, then letting out a friendly roar.

“Yes, hey bud, you’re gonna go with those two, okay? Come to the house, I’ll be there too!”

The dragon – Toothless apparently – roared again.

“Home,” Tony said, slowly, speaking clearly.

It hummed, head tilting to the side slightly. Then it began walking into a certain direction.

“Follow him he knows the way, I’ll see you there.”

Tony hung up, and the two assassins looked at each other for a short moment.

“But what about the HYDRA agents?” Clint asked then.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I M P O R T A N T ! ! !  
> To be clear: Toothless has the new tailfin Tony made, Pietro knows a bit about Hiccup, but not her name or anything, only that she's a friend of Tony since he came to save her. Tony had lead Dawntwister away, but his team saw it and they got a bit suspicious. And Tony has told the media about the existence of dragons (more about that next chapter). 
> 
> That was about it. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. See ya next time!


	25. Dragons and Spiders

_“-but the fire-breathing creature has been successfully driven back to the woods by the Avengers,_ " the news anchor said _, "People all over America, Canada, Greenland and Iceland are advised to carry eels with them. Why eels? Because it is revealed that dragons are afraid of them. Though still unsure, Tony Stark has said that the reason behind this is that dragons can get very sick of eels, and thus avoid them as much as possible."_

The man cleared his throat, pointing at another picture of a dragon, to be seen vaguely in the distance. A Monstrous Nightmare to be exact, and it was Dawntwister, Tony knew. _“Further, Tony Stark liked to add that as long as you don’t bother dragons, don’t step into their territory and don’t show threatening behavior, they will show no interest in you. You can vaguely compare them to bears, only more dangerous when provoked. Now onto the weather, tomorrow will be-”_

The TV was turned off, the screen turned black. Tony threw the remote next to him on the couch, slumping down more in his seat and covering his face with his hand. He had told the media, showed them a picture of Dawntwister (a vague one he had made himself), and told them about the eel thing. Hiccup told him dragons could get very sick of eels, and that was why they avoided them as much as possible.

“You know, I thought there’d be more panicking when people realized dragons really exist, and are currently flying around the borders of New York and in Greenland,” Clint commented, helping himself to another pancake of the pile Tony had been making this morning.

Natasha glanced up at him as she poured some syrup over her own. “Well, it _is_ New York, Clint. After the Chitauri, a Robot Army in Sokovia, the killer Helicarriers, Gods with hammers… I don’t think the people of New York and surroundings are surprised by anything anymore. They’re probably scared for a moment, but these dragons aren’t exactly looking for fights or want to take over the planet.”

On the couch, Tony groaned as he let his head drop back against the backrest of the couch. He still didn’t like it that two assassins were sitting in his house, eating pancakes and discussing dragons like it was the weather, while a dangerous, jet black dragon was in that same room right now.

“So, I think it would take more than a few dragons to get them in chaos. Especially seeing as they’re not setting things on fire and behaving quite well. I mean, the ones we’ve seen stay in the forest and far away from the big cities, right?” They both glanced at the jet-black dragon sprawled out before the fireplace, letting the heat wash over him as he was blissfully asleep.

“Yeah, what is up with that anyway?” Clint asked, “Why are all these dragons coming here to gather around New York. What is it that makes them want to come here?”

The Whispering Death, the Night Fury, the Monstrous Nightmare. Tony told them about a Terrible Terror (Hiccup’s Terrible Terror, to be exact). And another dragon he ‘didn’t know the name of’. He actually did, but he wasn’t going to tell the others it was a Deadly Nadder, because if he _did_ they would ask him how he knew it was named that. And then he would have to tell them about Hiccup, who had told him how it was named. He thought it would be about time he told the others about Hiccup, he was sick of keeping it a secret, but Hiccup wasn’t sure about telling the others yet, and so Tony didn’t.

Tony had called Hiccup immediately after Natasha had hung up, and told her the others had found out about Toothless. They agreed that Hiccup would be staying the night somewhere else with Dawntwister, until they had figured out the right time to tell Clint and Natasha that she was riding the Night Fury and that she was from another planet also.

Pietro had almost found out about Hiccup, but Tony had swooped in just in time to tell Pietro a bullshit story about Hiccup being a Zoologist, and a good friend of Tony’s. He told Pietro she had heard about the animals and that she wanted to come check it out. The clothes were normal for her, because that was what some zoologists wore. As protection from plants and claws and stings and stuff. They got out before Pietro asked any more follow up questions.

Tony hoped that tomorrow, Hiccup would show up on Dawntwister to the cabin, ready to tell the other Avengers in this room her story. It would be so much easier, especially considering Tony knew who was in possession of the Tesseract, but he was not allowed to tell anyone because then he’d have to tell them how he knew, but he couldn’t do that either because that would mean he had to tell them about Hiccup, who wanted to remain a secret!

They deserved to know, so he prayed Hiccup would get over her fear and just meet these two awesome assassins.

“They don’t all come here,” Tony said, not even bothering to look up, “Just some of them. It’s because of Toothless. He’s trying to protect his species, so he gathers them in the forest, close to the sea. They just happen to stumble onto New York City and surroundings. They don’t want to come into the City because it’s way too crowded and noisy for them. They hate that.”

“And since when have you become a specialist in dragons, Tony?” Natasha asked.

“Since not exceptionally long. The dragons and me just hit it off pretty well. And that’s all I’m going to tell you right now.”

Tony turned towards them. “Look, I’ve known for a little while that dragons really aren’t as bad as people think. The Whispering Death in our backyard kind of is, but most dragons aren’t. Yes, I’ve befriended this Night Fury, yes, I’ve also befriended that Monstrous Nightmare we saw a day or two ago in our backyard. I should have told you earlier, I didn’t. It was complicated. But… we have got to make sure the others don’t hurt these dragons. Especially Toothless.”

“Okay, but on the side, why is he named Toothless?” Clint asked.

Tony seriously suspected Toothless was capable of understanding human speech, as he perked his head up, ears pinned forward. Then he opened his mouth, retracting the bunch of sharp teeth and purring at the humans. Clint raised his eyebrows, and Natasha cocked her head to the side slightly.

“Ohh, okay,” Clint said, “Yeah that’s- that’s understandable.”

Tony grinned at the archer.

“Alright, listen up,” Natasha said, “Clint and I can both agree that now we’ve seen this, we can assume dragons are indeed not that bad. They can be reasoned with. We need to show the others that too. What we need, is more allies. How do we stand? We’ve got Tony, Clint and me on the pro-dragon side, but that leaves Thor, Loki, Sam, Steve, Pietro, Wanda, Bruce, Fury, and Bucky to convince. That’s a lot.”

Tony kneaded his chin for a moment, softly biting his lower lip as he cast a glance at the dragon, that was now happily chomping down on some fish Tony had given him. “Yeah, okay. We need to see this as like… a game of conquering. We need to play this smart. We can’t just go after the big guys first, with that I mean Thor, Steve and Fury. Wanda and Pietro aren’t our best options either right now, since they both hate dragons after Pietro almost died. Sam and Bucky are close to Steve. I say we go after Bruce first.”

“That sounds like we’re taking them out one by one, to slaughter the Avengers from the inside out,” Clint said, putting some potato chips in his mouth. Tony’s eyebrows knitted together. Clint had _just_ been eating pancakes, where did he get potato chips?

“Isn’t violence the only language you two understand?”

Natasha and Clint shrugged vaguely.

“So,” Tony continued, “We go after Bruce, as he is fairly easy to convince, and we already have Natasha, everyone knows you two were like a thing- don’t comment!”

The red-head closed her mouth, sending Tony a glare. But she almost failed at it. Tony didn’t notice and just rambled on.

“So, then we have Bruce. And when we have Bruce we can go after Thor, next. Because Bruce and Thor also have this thing going on. Probably because they’re like the exact opposite of each other; a god and a scientist. And it seems like they’re both equally interested in each other. So, we can use Bruce to get to Thor. Because let’s be honest here, Thor would love a tamed dragon. He’s like Hagrid from Harry Potter; the most dangerous animals are the most interesting ones. And once we have Thor, he and I can get Loki.”

Tony seemed to think about that for a moment, his lips silently moving as he thought of something else. “Maybe I can get Loki even sooner since we’re besties now… and that would make it even easier to convince Thor…”

Clint didn’t seem to entirely agree with that. Things with him and Loki were a teeny tiny bit better, especially since his grand speech and the fact he had a lot of useful information, and he hadn’t done anything that wasn’t in their favor. But still…

“Tony, I want to trust you and I trust that you trust Loki, but I don’t really trust Loki and if I can’t trust Loki then I can’t trust you and you’re just gonna have to trust me.” He was silent for a moment, “Trust me that logic tracks.”

“Yeah, well, as you said, I trust Loki, and you’re gonna have to trust _me_ , and I trust you. So, there’s no problem. After that we can try to get to Sam or Bucky. Now, Sam and Bucky are both giant danger zones, since they’re basically Steve’s extra limbs. And the only way to convince Steve is if we unite against him. It _has_ to be all against one, if Cap has someone, _anyone,_ on his side, even if it’s only one single person, we lose.”

“I don’t think the three of us will be enough to convince Bruce,” Clint spoke up, “How are we going to get to Banner without raising suspicion in the first place? I mean, we got to show him that Toothless is not a threat, but how are we going to convince him to come with us to somewhere remote, to then show Toothless to him? And if we all just secretly try to ‘corrupt’ the other Avengers, Steve’s gonna notice that we’re picking the Avengers off one by one. He’ll shut us down before we even get to the third person. We’re all not exactly innocent or unsuspicious persons.”

“What we need,” Natasha said, “Is someone on the inside. Someone who doesn’t raise suspicion when they ask people to follow them to remote places. Someone who’s _so_ innocently looking, that even when they stand next to a person that has been stabbed to death, with the murder weapon in still their hand, are believed when they say they didn’t do it.”

Clint fumbled up the chips bag into a ball and threw it into the bin that stood in the corner of the room. Of course, it went perfectly, and all with barely even looking, because Clint didn’t even need to look before he aimed. Toothless’ head perked up at the sound, sniffing in the direction of the bin.

The two assassins thought deeply, but were unable to come up with anyone who was innocent looking, yet trustworthy enough for this job. They couldn’t just take _any_ person. The person had to look like they belonged in the midst of Superheroes. The others couldn’t get suspicious before they had even done anything.

Tony suddenly snapped his fingers, he looked up at the other two. “I know just the guy!”

 

* * *

 

“Okay, so maybe you ruined that algebra test today but know this: you can literally lay in bed and eat a block of cheese like an apple and it’s not illegal.”

“Peter, what the _fuck_.”

Peter sent her a goofy grin, slowly raising his shoulders in an innocent shrug. Michelle rolled her eyes and occupied herself with her book again, it had a black cover with white letters, but Peter didn’t know what it was called. He wasn’t very curious anyway. Normally he would be, bot not today. He was thinking about ‘The Next Mission’, though he wasn’t sure if there would ever be one. It had been a while after all, since Mr. Stark had invited him over.

Maybe it was like a onetime thing only, or maybe Mr. Stark had lost interest in him. He had saved Pepper, Mr. Stark’s girlfriend, but that had been months ago now, and the night Peter had spent there had also been quite some weeks ago. Maybe the ‘new’ that had made Peter interesting was gone, and Mr. Stark was looking for something else, something ‘fresh’. God, Peter hoped that wasn’t the case.

He kept telling himself that Mr. Stark was just a busy person, that he had a lot on his plate right now, with the Avengers, Loki who had turned good, _dragons_ … He had been about as shocked as anyone else. Not breaking-into-chaos-shocked, but still pretty surprised.

Dragons were something new. They’ve had aliens, robots, gods and monsters, but not dragons. Apparently, they weren’t that aggressive, if one would leave them alone. The Avengers said dragons had come from a different planet by accident, and that they were handling it. Or that was what they said on TV. And Peter didn’t know for how far he could trust the media. Especially after the whole Helicarrier, HYDRA is secretly everywhere fiasco.  

Peter wanted to see a dragon up-close, but he never got the chance too. He wanted to touch one, pet one. Stand before it as it noticed his presence, looking at it and maybe even roaring at him. It would be epic. He then felt someone tap his shoulder.

“Hey, anyone home?”

Ned, who was sitting next to Peter, looked at his friend with a curious look. It wasn’t like his friend to just zone out like that. Perhaps it had been normal when he was looking at Liz, but since Liz had moved after the thing with her father, Peter didn’t have anyone to crush on anymore. Though he _was_ relieved that the whole thing with the Vulture was behind him. That had been one of the scariest moments of his life. The little relationship he had with Mr. Stark was almost ruined by it, but he fought his way through and now everything was good again.

“What are you thinking about?” Ned asked.

Peter shrugged vaguely, “Nothing. Just… the Stark Internship. It has been so quiet lately, it’s like they’ve forgotten all about me.”

The corner of his mouth twisted down at that, and he let his head hang down, staring at the top of the canteen table.

“I’m sure they haven’t, they’re just busy with everything that’s been going on,” Ned assured him, “You know, with all the dragons, and the robot thing in Sokovia wasn’t that long ago. You’ll be doing cool intern stuff in no time.”

Ned knew he was Spider-Man, of course. And he was giddy to meet the Avengers too one day. He wasn’t sure if that was ever going to happen, but he wanted it to, he was always hoping Peter could introduce him somewhere in the future.

With a small sigh, Peter cast his gaze up again, only to look right into Michelle’s eyes. She was looking at him from above her book, one eyebrow raised a little in a way that said she thought something was off.

“Hm?” Peter asked.

“Nothing,” Michelle answered, looking back at her book.

Peter took out his phone, going straight to Happy’s contact. He saw the many, _many_ texts he had sent to him. All about when lessons ended, when he had hours off, when he didn’t have school, school trips, spare time, weekends off, and about being ready for the next mission. He didn’t get an answer even once.

Since a week or so, he had stopped sending messages. Stopped leaving voicemails too. It didn’t matter anymore. Happy had never answered, never cared to send even the littlest thing back. Even ‘k’ would have been good enough, anything to let Peter know he had actually read the messages. But whatever, it didn’t matter anymore. Peter almost felt like _he_ didn’t matter anymore.

Ned watched along from his side. “He really doesn’t like you, does he?”

“Not really. I think Happy finds me annoying.”

“Whatever. He’s just a grumpy old bodyguard.”

“Head of Security, Ned. But yeah, he’s grumpy.”

The bell rang. Peter and Ned automatically looked up, as they always did, they couldn’t help it. The shrill sound of the bell was not something you’d ever get used to. It was too loud and too annoying. Students had tried to convince the principal to change the sound, but it never happened. It stayed the same, horrible noise. Like nails on a chalkboard, it called upon the fight or flight instinct of the students.

To Peter, it was double as annoying, because his hearing, much like his sight, smell and touch, was extra sensitive. It could easily become overstimulated, especially with high sounds like these. He had super senses, and it was moments like this that he hated having such super powers.

Michelle put her book in her bag, “See you next break, losers,” she said, before taking off.

“Bye,” Ned and Peter said back.

The bell always rang two times after the breaks and at the start of the day. One time to tell the students the lessons were going to begin, and the other to tell them the lesson had really begun. There were about five minutes in between. When you came in after the first ring, you were perfectly on time. If you came in after the second ring you were too late.

Since the first ring had just came, Peter had time to rush to his locker. He still needed to switch up some books.

The monotone buzz of several-hundred voices hummed like an orchestra of deadbeat droids. Peter tried to dodge the many students standing in the hallway but wouldn’t always succeed. He occasionally bumped against backpacks, elbows, feet (of those people who spend their break sitting on the ground against the wall, their legs stretched out, so you could trip over them), or against whole bodies, but finally he managed to reach his locker.

A tired look worked over his face as he saw the couple making out against the lockers, _his_ included. He tried to walk at it, but the girl pushed the boy against his locker harder and they wouldn’t listen to his ‘excuse me, can I please get to my locker?’ questions. They kept making out.

He sighed and tapped his feet, waiting and hoping they would go away by their own before the second bell rang. He needed the books inside because without those he couldn’t follow his classes. Apparently these two didn’t have lessons to follow. They probably had a free period. Well, Peter did not.

He checked the clock that hung in the hallway. Two minutes. C’mon!

“Get a room you two!” a gruff voice said. The old janitor shuffled at the lockers. He had neatly-combed thin, white hair, a thick mustache to match, and a wrinkled face that spoke of many long years lived. Sunglasses obscured the man’s eyes and although they didn’t match in style, they reminded Peter of Tony Stark somehow.

In his hands he held a mop, the stick clenched in his hands at the near end as he held it out before him as if he was trying to shoo a spider or a cat away. The two kissing students looked up and the girl let out a shriek as she saw the bundle of dirty, thick loose strings come closer. Both she and the boy bolted it and the janitor lowered the mop.

“There,” he said, “My school’s not a sex club so they better keep their hands for themselves. Go get your stuff boy, the lessons start in a few minutes!”

Peter gave the old janitor a smile and thanked him, before quickly opening his locker and grabbing his stuff. The janitor shuffled off again, dragging the mop across the floor behind him. Peter almost laughed as he thought about the faces of that couple when they saw that thing come closer to their faces.

After he had grabbed his books he sprinted at the right classroom, to see almost everyone was already there. The teacher, luckily, wasn’t, he was probably getting some coffee. About three more classes and it was lunch time.

He couldn’t wait…

  

 _Bbbzzzzztttt_ _bbbzzzzztttt_

Peter pulled his phone from his back-pocket, pressing the on-button to see he had a few new WhatsApp messages. He didn’t recognize the number. It was finally lunch time, after all those boring hours of chemistry and math it was time for a break. He had not been paying that much attention, he had to admit, his thoughts were constantly wondering off to the dragons. Perhaps he could go swing through town and find one today! It wasn’t likely, but still!

He unlocked his phone and went straight to WhatsApp. The profile picture showed a man with dark-brown hair and a beard, plus a goatee… He immediately tapped on the chat and it opened. He could see all the messages now.

Hey, kid

It’s Tony

Tony Stark

What time are you off?

You didn’t message Happy, so I have no idea

  

Peter could not breathe. He just sucked in a deep breath and stopped doing anything after that. Ned looked up at the sound, seeing his friend sit there, staring wide-eyed at his screen. Ned looked too, his eyes growing equally wide.

“Dude… is that...?”

“I don’t know, I think?”

   

Peter: Hey mr Stark

Peter: Are you really mr Stark?

Unknown Number: Yeah

Unknown Number: Remember when you were in my house, you met Loki and we watched Frozen together

Unknown Number: You always annoy Happy with all your texts

Unknown Number: And you dubbed your AI Karen

Unknown Number: Enough evidence?

Peter: Uh, yeah!

Peter: I’m done at 2:45

Unknown Number: You ready for the next mission ;)

Peter: Yes!!!

Unknown Number: Great, then we’ll pick you up.

Peter: We?

Peter: What do you mean, we?

Peter: Who’s we?

Peter: See you then Mr. Stark!

 

“Dude,” Ned breathed, looking at Peter with large eyes. “Did Tony Stark just send you a winky face?!”

 

* * *

 

Stakeout was about as exciting as sitting on a park bench for nine hours. In the movies they sat slumped over cold take-out, but drama was never far away. Inevitable the bad guy showed up, there was an exciting chase and the plot moved on.

But Clint knew that was nowhere near reality. He had been on stakeouts before, sometimes he was lucky and the first day he was there something already happened. But he’s got times where the stakeouts turned into torture. Not literal torture as in the bad guys got to him, but more like mental torture.

After a week of flicking radio stations, he knew every irritating quirk of every presenter and the popular songs felt like swallowing nails. The only thing the films ever got right is that if something was going to happen, it happened when he was taking a toilet break or was asked for directions. Then something happened, and he almost screwed up because he was busy. He once had that the bad guys waited for him in the bathroom. And that one time when the ‘old lady’ asking him for directions had a Glock in her purse and nearly shot him with it.

This was a little bit of both. It was simple, and he knew it wouldn’t take long, but it was the excitement in his body that made it seem like days instead of hours. Normally he was never really giddy for the bad guys to make their move, as that normally meant gunfights and the risk of getting hurt. Of other people getting hurt. There never was much to look forward to. Now there was.

They were going to get this Peter Parker and take him back to Tony’s house to introduce him to a real-life dragon, to convince him to join their side and then get him to draw out every single Avenger, one by one, to convince them too.

Clint had never met this Parker-guy before, but Tony told them he was great. That with a little bit of training, he’d be a real asset to the team. Natasha wanted to know what kind of powers or skills Peter had, but Tony only chuckled mysteriously. So that didn’t bring them any further. Perhaps this ‘Peter’ was a spy of some sort, an assassin. Or maybe he was a genius of some sort.

The car was parked close to a High School. Midtown School of Science and Technology it was called. Neither of the assassins had any idea why they were parked close to a High School. Maybe this Peter Parker was a teacher? They absolutely had no clue. Maybe it wasn’t even about the school, maybe Parker just crossed this road every day, who was to say?

“He’ll be out in a few minutes,” Tony said, putting down his phone.

“I gotta admit I’m curious to this guy,” Natasha replied, “You say he’s been to your house more often, and that Steve knows him too, but who is he? Where does he come from? What’s his job?”

“You’ll see.” Tony waggled his eyebrows at Nat, who then in return rolled her eyes dramatically.

They gazed out of the window for a little longer. Seeing a few students leave the school early. A few cars pulled up in front of the school. Probably some parents coming to pick up their kid. Clint smiled a little at that. He knew a lot of teenagers thought it to be embarrassing if a parent came to pick them up, Clint would have loved nothing more in his school years.

He lived a long way from school, and he couldn’t take any public exportation. He remembered the rainy days on which he had to cycle all the way to school, it cost him an hour to get there. In the summers it was fine, but definitely not in the cold, dark winter days. His dad never bothered to bring him.

“But okay, how are we going to get this Peter guy to Bruce?” Natasha asked then.

“I have an idea,” Clint replied.

“A good one?”

That earned her a laugh from the archer, “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

“There he is!” Tony interrupted the two. He started the car and drove up at the schoolyard, driving straight over the pavement to drive onto the school ground. He had chosen a flashy car, though Natasha had told him ‘no’. He didn’t care. He had to be recognizable right now. The car purred loudly as Tony pulled up.

They stopped in the middle of the schoolyard, then waited patiently. The students began crowding around the car, from a fairly large distance, but the Avengers inside saw them packing together. They pointed at the car, whispered behind hands. Natasha wanted to roll her eyes again. The two assassins kept staring out the window, trying to look for anyone who could be named Peter.

Then a man with brown hair, a brown beard and small, round glasses walked up at them a bit. Natasha pointed at him, and the man stopped. She leaned over to Tony a bit, “Is that Peter?”

Tony let out a laugh and shook his head, “Not even close, Nat.”

Natasha shrugged and leaned back against her seat. Clint then popped up from the backseat, pushing his way between the two front seats to look too. “Why am I in the backseat? I want to look too! Is that Peter?”

“No, that’s not Peter. You’ll see who Peter is.”

The man with brown hair and the beard walked closer again, until he stood next to the driver’s window, where Tony was sitting, and tapped on it. Tony rolled down his window, leaning out to flash the man one of his media smiles.

“Excuse me, Mr. Stark, can I help you with something? You’re on school property.”

“It’s alright, just here to pick up a kid.”

“Oh… you have a child?”

“Well… it’s not _my_ kid, but he kinda works for me and his aunt said it’s fine.”

“How-wow wait a minute,” Clint said, pushing himself forward even more, “He’s a _kid_? And he has to ask permission from his _aunt_?”

Tony urged the backseat to be quiet on a hissing tone, and then focused on the teacher again. He opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it again and resulted to coming out of the car. To his annoyance, the teacher was taller than him. Not that it was that hard to be taller than Tony Stark, but Tony already didn’t like teachers, and he hated it they were always taller than him. Both when he had been a student, and when he was an adult.

His eyes moved around the crowed, trying to catch a glimpse of a familiar face with big brown eyes and messy brown curls. The teacher guy said something again, but Tony didn’t listen. He only hummed something in response and nodded a few times. That kept going on until he finally found the face he was looking for.

A grin crawled across his face as he and Peter locked eyes. Peter was standing next to a somewhat chubby, slightly smaller guy who Tony suspected to be Ned, Peter’s best friend. Tony figured he once had to talk to that friend too, invite him over, question him about the multi-million dollars suit he had hacked. Not right now, now they had other things to do.

“Yeah yeah yeah, that’s all remarkably interesting, I’m sure. But I got a tight schedule, so I _really_ need to be going. Kid, you coming?”

Peter easily pushed his way through the crowd, earning himself some strange and surprised looks, and made his way over to the car. “Hey, Mr. Stark,” he said, being his usual, energetic self.

“You can sit in the back with Clint, I’m sure he doesn’t mind, right Barton?”

Clint rolled down his window too, climbing halfway out. Then he said, kinda very loudly so that everyone heard, “You’re Peter? I thought you’d be older.”

“You’re Hawkeye?” Peter asked back, “I thought you’d be more mature.”

Tony let out a snort and Natasha opened her window too, she leaned out, not quite as far as Clint was doing (he was almost falling out the window at this point), but far enough for her whole head to be out. She blew a lock of bright red hair away from her face, “We’ll take him. Load him in.”

Tony made a swatting gesture at her and she moved back into the car, grinning widely. Peter moved to the other side, opening the door and getting in. Tony got into the driver’s seat. Another guy moved to the front of the crowed, looking at them wide-eyed. The boy had dark-brown hair, slicked back over his head.

“Who that?” Tony asked, turning his head back to Peter.

“Oh, that’s Flash.”

“Ah, the kid’s that’s been bullying you. You want me to hit him with my car?”

Peter let out a high-pitched, keening sound. “What? No! No, Mr. Stark! Don’t do that!”

Tony was still chuckling long after he had drove away from the school.

  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here ya go! Another chappie ;) I'm going on vacation tomorrow, so I won't have much time to write. It could be I update not too long after, but there is a possibility it will take very long. I'm not sure yet, because I do want to enjoy my vacation.  
> Peter's here! You didn't think I had forgotten about my lil cutie, did you?  
> And what do you think? Will Tony's prayers be answered and will Hiccup show up?


	26. Oh My God They Were Roommates

“So…” Peter asked, squirming on his seat in excitement, “What’s the mission?”

Clint eyed the kid from the side, blue eyes squinted the slightest as his gaze was sharp. Leaning against the inside of the car door, he was taking in all the kid’s appearance and estimating how much of a threat he could be, from the tapping of his feet on the floorboard of the car, to his hair that softly bounced around with the bobbing movements of his head.

It was a useful skill, to be able to make out from the way someone sat, moved, talked, looked, and more, what kind of person they were. Everyone had a unique way of doing, and from all those things there usually was something to notice. Take Natasha, for instance, she looked with eyes sharper than her knives, she moved gracefully like a ballerina and with barely any sound, when she sat, she sat straight, ever vigilant.

Already from the first moment Clint had laid eyes on her, he knew she was not to be trifled with. He knew she was more than just a pretty face. Behind the smiles, flirty words and the seductive swinging of her hips, she was a deadly snake ready to strike and inject her venom. She was like a praying mantis, killing the man after they had sex. Only with her, it never came to that. Her victims were always dead before something happened, and Natasha left with all their secrets safely stored in her head.

There were always _some_ features that gave away secrets, even when people tried so hard to keep them hidden. Clint was trained in estimating threats, had been more often undercover than he had birthdays and he had to know who to trust and who not. He had to know who he could tell things, and who he had to ignore and look out for.

He wanted to figure out some more about this kid; was he an assassin? Was he trained? What super powers did he have? Was there anything to discover about him that might give Clint a hint about why he was so special? So, he narrowed his eyes and stared, watching the kid’s every moment, even the slightest twitch of muscle on the black seats of the car did not go unnoticed.

Nothing. Absolutely _nothing_ about this kid seemed threatening. He was about as tall as Tony, had big brown eyes, brown curls of hair, and a noticeably young appearance. The way he bounced in his seat and fiddled with his fingers told Clint again that he was young, or just energetic.

“How old are you?” Clint asked bluntly.

The kid whipped his head towards him, those giant eyes so curious and filled with excitement, “I’m fifteen, Mister Barton, Hawkeye, sir.”

The answer took Clint aback a little, his eyebrows rose slightly. Not only because the kid was so young and so energetic, but also because this ‘Peter’ had just addressed him with like three different titles: mister Barton, Hawkeye, and sir. Clint was fine with Mister Barton and Hawkeye, but he did not like ‘sir’, not at all. It made him think about his dad too much.

“Clint’s fine,” he said slowly, still staring, “But please don’t call me sir.”

The kid’s eyes widened a little, “Oh, I’m so sorry, mister Barton, I won’t call you that anymore!”

The archer shifted his gaze to the front seats. While Tony was solely focused on the road, Natasha was turned in her seat to face the back, also taking in the kid’s appearance, her green eyes slowly moving up and down from his feet to his face, then she raised her eyebrow. “Do you have super powers?” she asked.

 _If_ the kid had real superpowers, it did not really explain why he had a bully. Clint had heard Tony say that he would hit this ‘Flash kid’ with his car, because he had been bullying Peter. Clint could not imagine someone with superpowers being bullied. You could do something awesome back, right? Unless you had a worthless superpower, but there were only very few that were actually worthless.

Peter shifted his attention to Natasha, “Uhm- yes, I do, kinda. I, uh, I’m very strong. And I’m sticky, you see? I stick to things.”

The two assassins shared a look, eyebrows pulled up slightly in confusion, then they both looked at Tony. Tony had to watch the road, yet he could spare a glance at them, shrugging vaguely, “Kid’s a superhero, he has awesome powers, deal with it. We’ll explain later. First, we have to get this over with. Peter?”

“Yes, mister Stark?”

“I want you to know, that if you’re not comfortable with what we’re about to do, and don’t want to be a part of this mission, that’s okay. Nobody will blame you or be disappointed in you if you pass on this one, alright?”

“Yes, mister Stark, I understand,” Peter answered, “I- uh, I don’t think I will though, I’ve been waiting so long to go on a mission with you! And with the other Avengers! It’s so nice to meet you mister Barton and miss Black Widow!”

Natasha’s lips curled up at the corners, “Call me Natasha. And if you have to say ‘miss’, you can say miss Romanov.”

“Of course, miss Romanov!”

She chuckled slightly as she turned back, watching the landscape before them. He was a special kid, she could see, but not in the way of training or powers. He was special in his personality. And she understood why Tony liked him. He was full of energy, polite, and enthusiastic about something he didn’t even know yet. He was young, fifteen, not even an adult, but that could work in their favor.

Teenagers were… dare she think it… _stupid_. They did not know much of how the world worked yet, had not done a lot of things in their lives, still lived with their parents and were protected from nearly everything… She bet that almost any teenager would immediately say yes to seeing a supposedly non-dangerous dragon. It was a _dragon_ , after all! They wouldn’t think straight about the consequences and just want to see that dragon.

And that was good, that worked in their favor. She also realized that this kid was smart. The high school he went to, it was a good one. You did not just get into that school with some average grades. And if this kid were to go after Bruce to ‘seduce’ him first, some cleverness would be appreciated. Perhaps a school project? One look at this kid and everyone would do what he asked, especially if it was something as innocent as homework. Yeah, this could really work. 

 

* * *

 

Years of trained reacted all at once, instincts screaming there was danger to the unknown. There was an unknown right before them, right now, sitting in full sight as Tony pulled up onto the dirt driveway of the cabin. In a flash, Natasha pulled out her gun as she stepped out of the car, aiming it at the front of Tony’s cabin. She stood ready, legs spread, wisps of flame red hair tumbling beside her face, and a look of fury in her eyes. Yet, at the same time she stood calmer than an ancient tree, muscles not cramped up and there was almost no tension in her body, but still she was ready to blow.

Clint jumped out and did the same, only he grabbed a long stick from the car floor instead of a gun from his pocket. The stick was black, Clint’s fingers curled around it tightly and when he flicked it down a bowstring shot out. In a small, hidden compartment in the bow was a single arrow hidden. He raised the stick, put the arrow on the string and pulled it back, aiming it at the same unknown as Natasha.

“Don’t move!” Natasha called out, to the stranger sitting on the porch. Her finger lay on the trigger, not hesitating to pull if the stranger was going to pull any tricks, or try to attack them.

The stranger had brown hair, tied in a braid that hung over her shoulder. She was wearing a lot of leather-y clothes, in the colors black and brown. She had a shield on her back, Natasha could see the edges were silver, but she couldn’t see the front of it. The girl was sitting relaxed, watching the car pull up and the two assassins jumping out without batting an eye. Or pulling a weapon, at that, not even when they pulled one on her. Her hands were on her knees, showing them she was not armed, and she had no intention to do so in the future.

When Natasha looked down a bit, she noticed the girl had a metal leg. But it was not metal like Bucky had a metal arm, this was a construction Natasha had not ever seen before. Not anywhere. It was one of the strangest prosthetic legs she had ever seen.

Tony jumped out of the car too, face twisted up in panic, “How-wow wait!” he called out, holding his hands out to Natasha and Clint, “Wait! Stop! That’s a friend of mine!”

A few seconds later, Natasha lowered her gun and Clint did the same with his bow, eyeing Tony and the stranger carefully. They did not want to aim weapons on their friend’s friend, but they had gotten spooked when this girl showed up out of nowhere, sitting idly on the porch, watching them with a sharp gaze. Though the weapons were aimed down at the ground, they were not put away.

The brown-haired girl stood up, walking towards Tony, but leaving the shield behind in the porch. Her metal leg made a clicking sound on the ground as she took steps, and Clint’s attention was pulled towards it like a cat’s to a laser dot. Peter stayed in the car, unsure what to do. Tony had told him to stay inside before he went out, and so Peter did.

However, that did not mean he did not want to help out badly. He had trouble sitting still, always being willing to help out where he could. He did not need weapons, for Spider-Man never had weapons either. Unless you called the Web-Shooters weapons, but Peter did not think so. They were more for trying people up, and swinging through the city, than actually attack people.

Perhaps some of the features mister Stark had added to his suit were weapons – he knew the danger of the Taser-Webs – but still most of them were meant to help him swing through the town and to web up bad guys. If it came to a real fight, he fought with his fists and his legs. In fights he always tried to kick the bad guys away, so that he could then web them up without doing much harm.

He saw the girl standing up and walking a little closer, and that made him nervous. What if she was a bad guy? What if she was going to hurt them? But mister Stark said she was a friend. Yet at the same time mister Barton and miss Romanov did not put their weapons away, so they were not sure either. The uncertainty took over, he opened the car door and stepped out. But he stayed behind beside the car, not interfering. Mouth shut tightly.

Tony walked up at the girl, arms out, and they embraced each other, giving a pat on the back before parting again. “I didn’t know you’d be here!” Tony said, holding her on arm length.

“Well… I thought about what you said, and about the news, so then I decided to come,” the girl answered, her eyes darted at the two assassins and the kid shortly, “To meet your friends.”

Before anything else could be said, the door of the cabin was pushed open, but not by another human or unknown. This was a known. Peter gasped loudly, eyes twice their original side. A pitch black, scaled dragon trotted outside, sniffling the air and humming softly. Clint and Natasha recognized the dragon, it was Toothless. They did not see him as a threat, they knew the dragon was trustworthy. But… they didn’t like where the Night Fury was walking towards.

Natasha opened her mouth to warn the girl of the danger, seeing Toothless make his way over to her, but she clasped it shut again when she found herself dumbfounded, watching the dragon rub his head against her hip. She laid a hand on his broad head, and scratched his chin.

The dragon hummed at her, rising up on his hind legs shortly to lick her face. She giggled, taking the head between her hands. “Toothless! You know that doesn’t wash out, right?”

And then it clicked. It all just _clicked_. Why the dragon knew who to hit of Clint, Natasha and the HYDRA agents, why it was so smart, the attack in the forest, the attack on the by the Ten Rings infested village, why Tony knew so much about dragons, why this dragon liked him, how he had found out that dragons weren’t dangerous, it all made sense now!

“You’re from that other planet,” Natasha breathed, eyes wide open, “From Ljósfold.”

She looked up, their eyes crossed, then she nodded shortly. “Indeed I am. My name is Hiccup Haddock, and I come from Berk. And this is Toothless, my best friend.”

Toothless purred and churred back at the humans, tilting his large head to the side, ears cocked forward. He was happy to see his human friends again.

“Holy damn,” Clint whispered from behind Natasha. Peter still looked like his brain had a short circuit. Tony and this girl, Hiccup or whatever, had been together all this time. They had been working together, and knew each other, and Tony had never told anyone about it. So _this_  was what he had been doing all the times he went away. He went to meet with some secret dragon girl in the woods, doing who knows what, and learning all kinds of things about dragons!

Tony stood in between the group, looking a bit unsure from one side to the other. So here they were, his friends from both sides, now meeting each other for the first time. He now got more than ever why Hiccup had been hesitant to meet his other friends: this was rather awkward and tense.

They all watched each other warily, not knowing what to expect. Natasha had her scary-face on, and she and Clint would still not put their weapons away. Peter was too shocked to say anything, also because he felt this was a tense situation and he knew he had a habit of making things worse. He did not want to make this worse, or mess this up. This was his first mission with three of the Avengers, a dragon, and some lady from another planet. If he messed this up, he was done forever.

Peter and Tony were not the only ones who felt the tension. Though the black dragon personally felt a liking towards all the humans that were here right now, he did not know how they would react to _each other_. The tension did not make things easier either. And if he had to choose, he would always choose Hiccup. _Always_. She was his best friend, his bonded. He cared about her deeply and would protect her with his life.

He stood at her side, lowered a bit to the ground, his tail wrapped around Hiccup’s legs and his ears pressed back flat against his head. He did not want to snarl, or to growl, but if she did not feel comfortable with the humans’ proximity, he would let them know they had to step back. He put his rider before the new people, and he would protect her from them if he had to.

“Okaaay,” Tony said then, making everyone snap out of their thoughts, “How about we step a little closer, say hi to each other. Hiccup, you already introduced yourself, very good. Now, Clint, Natasha?”

Tony looked almost pleading at the two assassins. They both saw his look, but were not certain what to do with it. Clint was the first to untense his bowstring, putting the arrow back in the compartment and flicking the bowstring back in. He then set the bow stick against the side of the car, stepping closer to the dragon and his girl hesitantly.

“So, uh, I’m Clint,” he said, rubbing the nape of his neck, “Clint Barton.”

She nodded, sending him a bit of a cramped smile. They tried, that was what counted. Perhaps they would not click immediately, Tony had hope they could become friends still. After these first few minutes Tony already knew they weren’t going to hit it off like he and Hiccup had done, but that did not mean everything would go wrong either.

Natasha stepped forward next, uncocking her gun and putting it in her belt. The dragon’s poison green eyes followed her movements carefully, knowing the danger of that small weapon. He was glad the woman with the flames on her head put it away before coming closer. If she had come closer _with_ that thing still ready in her hands, the dragon would have had no other option but to growl, to let her know ready-made weapons close to his rider were not tolerated.

But that did not happen.

The redhead stepped to the archer’s side, “Natasha Romanov,” she introduced herself. While she said her name, Hiccup noticed a slight accent, a hum to the way she pronounced it. She must not be from where Tony was born, but somewhere else. She could not place the accent, but that did not matter right now.

The kid was last, he about _bounced_ closer, joining the sides of the two taller people. He was mostly looking at the dragon. “I’m Peter, Peter Parker,” he said, eyes sparkling with excitement.

He took a small step closer, but made sure he was a reasonable distance away from the girl to show the dragon he was not endangering his friend in any way. He had noticed the dragon protected the girl, and he did not want to anger the dragon. The kid looked up and down the dragon’s appearance, and Hiccup saw he was eager to get closer. He was curious, his brown eyes showed that clearly.  

And in the blink of an eye, Hiccup stared at the kid with somewhat wide eyes. Brown eyes, brown curls, the curious look in his eyes, the excitement… she shifted her look at Tony. “I did not know you had a son.”

Both Peter as Tony got all red in the face. At the same time, they started mumbling and stuttering, yet it was Tony who said, “We’re not related, not even a bit. He just looks somewhat like me, that’s all.”

Hiccup nodded slowly, not entirely convinced. Next to her, Toothless chirruped, his green eyes wide and curious too. He sniffed towards the kid, and the kid looked back at the dragon in return.

“What is he?” Peter asked, taking another step closer.

“A Night Fury,” Hiccup answered, the corners of her lips curling up when she remembered Tony asking the exact same question, “The fastest and fiercest of his kind.”

Peter let out a small and amazed ‘whoa’.

Toothless was crowding at Hiccup’s back, and arching his neck over past her hip to stretch his nose towards the humans, nostrils flared, and ears pricked. Now that he was together with his friend, it felt safer to investigate what exactly those humans were, what their scents were and how they were connected to Tony.

“Can I…” Peter asked, almost shyly, “Can I come closer?”

Hiccup looked down at her friend, a questioning look in her eyes. The dragon wobbled his nose, humming back and rustling his tail. She turned back to Peter, “I don’t think he minds, but take it easy, he is not used to so many strangers all at once.”

“Yeah, yeah! Of course! I’ll be careful, miss… uh…” The kid looked embarrassed, he had already forgotten her name.

“Hiccup,” she helped him.

The dragon watched his every move as he stepped closer, not threatening, just careful. From her side, Toothless set a few steps forward, stretched out and sniffled the air towards Peter, who then stood entirely still. Hiccup squinted her eyes a bit when she saw the kid stand stiff like a plank, and she pulled the most confused face when he _bowed_. He just bowed for the dragon, carefully casting his eyes up.

With the confused expression still clear on her face, Hiccup looked over at Tony, who looked a few seconds away from bursting out into laughter. “Kid,” he said, grinning widely, “He’s not a Hippogriff, you don’t have to bow for him!”

Even redder than before, Peter stood back up straight, “Oh- uh, I thought- uh, I just… uhm, well- this is awkward…”

“It’s fine, Peter,” Hiccup said, smiling at him, “Just let him come to you, give him space, be calm.”

He did what she said, standing as relaxed as he could. Toothless set some hesitant steps closer, testing out the water before he dived in. The two assassins stood silently, content with just watching the kid try to get close to the dragon. They had their bonding moment yesterday, now it was his turn.

The scaled nose touched the stomach area of the kid, Toothless was making soft noises and nudged it. Peter giggled slightly because it tickled, and the dragon’s ears perked up at the sound. He raised his head, looking Peter in the eye and he gurgled. Peter held out his hand, reaching it out carefully. Toothless sniffled the slightly bend fingers, pushing his nose against the palm of Peter’s hand.

The kid let out a relieved chuckle, laughing harder when he was allowed to pet the dragon with both hands. Toothless nudged harder, pressing himself against the boy as he let out purrs and churrs. Both Hiccup and Tony watched the two with a fond look in their eyes.

“So, we gonna go inside or what?” Clint interrupted the silence.

 

* * *

 

There was a smile playing around Tony’s lips, and Hiccup did not like it one bit. She tried to ignore it as she wrote in her journal, working on her drawings, but she saw it from the corner of her eye. Tony was staring at her, smiling like an idiot.

Focusing on Peter, Natasha and Clint playing with Toothless did not work either. She had wanted to draw them as they played, but of course Tony had told her taking a photo was way faster. She said she preferred to draw, he said she could draw the picture, because that was even easier. She gave in eventually, taking a photo, and then marveling at the sharpness and the way how that that exact moment was captured in such tiny device. After that she worked on the drawing of a Scauldron, one she hadn’t finished all the way. Their neck was always so difficult to capture.

Dawntwister had joined them soon after. He was here because Hiccup had ridden him to get here. At first, the three newbies had been scared a bunch by the giant dragon with the huge mouth, but they soon discovered that the Monstrous Nightmare was a big softie too. Though Hiccup did tell them to be careful because sometimes Nightmares liked to burst out in flames just for fun.

“What are you smiling at?” Hiccup asked, looking up from her journal when Tony had _still_ not stopped smiling.

He shrugged a little. “At you. I was just thinking… If _I_ can train a dragon…”

Both of them turned their head to steal a glance at the garden, seeing the five of them having a play-fight. Toothless was trying to jump on top of Peter, who was then trying to pin Toothless down to the ground with his super strength. And Dawntwister was puffing clouds of smoke at Clint, amused by the human that kept trying to climb on top of him.

“…Then I guess…” Tony stopped for a moment, rethinking his words, “Then you can train an Avenger, right?”

Hiccup raised an eyebrow. “I can train a _what_ now?”

“An Avenger,” Tony repeated, “Like, you go out there, pick one of the Avengers and then you train him or her! Though I wouldn’t advice slamming their head against the ground, they won’t like that. I think you should start with Bruce, he’s not that hard to tame. Trust is a whole other thing, he’s got some trust-issues, but well, who can blame him? But he’s nice, I think you’ll like him.”

Hiccup leaned back against the backrest of the chair, looking up to the sky. She was thinking for a moment. Tony crossed his fingers, hoping she’d say yes. He didn’t want to lie anymore. He hated lying to his friends. Some of the pressure was gone now that Clint, Natasha and Peter knew, but there were still so many of his friends left. They too were starting to notice something was wrong, and there just was so much stress and things going on in their lives all the time, he wanted to tell them.

They had the right to know about this. Tony hated going behind their back. It was unfair. He understood Hiccup wasn’t in such a hurry to meet them, as she had no idea what to expect and being thrown into another world was enough excitement for a few months, but he still hoped she would. She was nice, and smart, and he wanted the others and her to meet.

She seemed to get along just fine with the three newbies. She had shown them Inferno, and even Natasha had been impressed. Peter had freaked out about it and sent a tornado of questions her way. She had tried to answer them all, though she did not get some of the terms he used.

Clint was not so interested in the _how_ and _why_ everything worked, just that it did. He loved to flick out the flaming blade from the sheath, to then swing it around. Said it was amazing to see. And even though she did not want to admit, Natasha wanted to try it out too. She got a turn. Flaming red hair, a deadly look _and_ a flaming sword in hand… it was enough to strike a chord of fear in Tony’s heart, and he hoped dearly Natasha would not ask Hiccup to teach her how to fight with a sword. Let alone with _that_ sword.

There had also been quite some shock when the others found out about Hiccup actually _rode_ Toothless. They had watched her saddle the dragon up with slacked jaws, let out shocked noises when she climbed on top of him, and watched with even more shock and disbelief how they soared through the air.

She did a few barrel rolls, dove down to the earth, pulled up at the last time and twirled back into the air. She grazed the tree tops, free-fell for a moment, and then landed back in the garden. While Natasha was just silent, Clint and Peter bombarded her with questions and they both asked if they could perhaps get a ride too, whenever she thought it was okay. Hiccup said yes, they could get a ride some time, and the two guys highfived.

They asked if she could ride _any_ dragon, she said that most dragons were trainable, but that some were to be left alone, the Whispering Death in their backyard was one of those. Clint and Natasha raised their eyebrows at that, while Peter asked what a Whispering Death was and then got all confused because _there was a dragon in the Avengers’ backyard?_

Next, it was Peter’s time to amaze everyone. They watched with wide eyes how he ran up to the side of the cabin, jumped about a few _meters_ into the air, and then stuck to the wall. Then he stood there, on all fours, against the wall of the cabin. A beat later he climbed up further.

“Like a spider,” Hiccup had said.

And Tony had answered, “Well of course, he’s the Spider-Man.”

While the sun was setting, Tony was trying to put some dinner together, but he ended up ordering pizza. They had to hide the dragons for when the pizza delivery guy came (which ended up being much harder than they had expected, because _someone_ had ordered a pizza with tuna, and that smelled very appealing to the two dragons), and then Tony introduced Hiccup to her first pizza.

The young Viking almost burned her mouth when she tried to take a bite, but she ended up loving it. Tony had ordered quite some different pizza’s, just to let her find out which she liked the most. She did not like the ‘slimy yellow pieces’, so Tony scratched pineapple off the list. She did like salami, but pepperoni was a bit too spicy for her (which they could have expected, she had only eaten boar, mutton and fish all her life, there barely was anything to spice the food up with so she wasn’t used to that), she also liked the pizza with the different kinds of cheese.

The tuna pizza, the margarita, the with different cheeses, and the with salami were well-liked. Peter was exclaiming things about how putting pineapple on a pizza was basically murder, and Clint agreed, so Tony watched them strangely as they were saying how they should revolt to those who ate pineapple on pizza.

Dawntwister did not fit in the house, so he could not try to snag a piece from the table, but Toothless _did_ and so he was constantly trying to steal a piece. Peter was the kind of person who always gave food to the dog under the table when it was begging, and so he did nothing else when it was a dragon that was under the table. Hiccup did not say anything off it, only grinned, but Tony felt a bit worried. She did not know what was in the food on Earth, what humans put in it.

There was a reason you shouldn’t give dogs – or dragons – random food from your plate. He had no idea what Toothless could and could not eat. What if pineapple was poisonous to him? But Peter had waved it off and said that before the gave the dragon the slices, he had thrown the pieces of pineapple into the fire, so they could return to where they belonged.

“In the fireplace?” Tony asked confused.

“In hell,” Peter answered, dead serious.

Later in the evening, Tony pulled Hiccup aside to tell her not-so-fun news. It was about Clint. She listened with held in breath to Tony’s story about how Clint got attacked by something with white eyes, large claws, giant teeth and a forked tongue. It was entirely black except for a few yellowish streaks.

Hiccup’s complexion turned ashen. That sounded exactly like…

That was…

She raised her hand, looking at where the monster had set its claws in her hand. Her other hand went to her side, trailing over the place where it had clawed at her skin. She remembered a giant mouth filled with many teeth, she remembered milky white eyes, she remembered large claws. She remembered skin black as night and thick with slime all over it.

They quickly drew the conclusion that the same monsters that had attacked Hiccup had attacked Clint. Apparently, they could shapeshift, and they were fusing with HYDRA and the Ten Rings. Tony gave Hiccup a quick explanation who HYDRA and the Ten Rings were, and then they went to tell the others. Peter was included, as Tony thought it would be good if the kid knew what was happening right now.

They talked about the aliens, about what they could be and what they wanted. Loki had told them they were a species of inorganic, amorphous extraterrestrials that bonded with people in order to stay alive. So perhaps that guy Jack (the guy that had attacked Clint) was human, but with an alien inside. How did that ever work? Did they _want_ to know?

Clint suggested to call them ‘The Bonders’ instead of ‘The New Party’, but they weren’t sure about that yet. It was a good second choice.

Hiccup told them she had seen two of those things. One with red streaks, and the other with yellow. Clint then said the one that had attacked him had yellow streaks too! It could be coincidence, it could be that they weren’t the same monster, but it could be that they _were_ … Yet, that wouldn’t explain how they had gotten from Ljósfold to Midgard.

It could be explained if Ragnar had sent them here, Tony suggested. Then he and Hiccup had to explain to the others who Ragnar was, which also meant that they had to tell the others that Ragnar was a Dragon Hunter, who had sent Hiccup here, by means of the Tesseract he was in possession of.

They had expected the two Avengers to get mad at them for not telling this earlier, but Natasha and Clint weren’t even the least bothered by it. They did not even say anything about it, they just started to work up a plan and guessing what his goal could be, what he wanted with the Tesseract.

“He has used it to send me and Toothless here,” Hiccup said, while they were sitting in the living room area of the cabin, “And we know he’s also sent a few dragons here. Maybe he’s using the Tesseract’s power to get rid of everything that’s in his way.”

“That’s a good theory,” Clint said, spinning an arrow in his hand. The archer sat perched quite oddly on a chair: he sat squatted down on the seat part, thinking deeply, “Like you said, maybe those dragons were in his way and that was why he send them here. It doesn’t even have to be specifically _here_ , on Earth, maybe any place would have been fine if they were just out of his way.”

“Or perhaps he wanted to test the Tesseract out before he would use it for his real big plan,” Natasha spoke up, “Whatever that may be.”

Peter tried to nod, but that did not work so well while he was upside down on the couch, his head on the soft fabric of the seat part, the rest of his body draped over the backrest. Hiccup was sitting next to him, leaning back, clicking the nose of her shoe and her prosthesis together. In her lap lay her travel journal, just in case she needed to look something up.

“Maybe he’s working with the Bonders,” Clint said then, making everyone look up. The archer shrugged, “It makes a little bit sense. You see, we are after this New Party, which exists from aliens. These aliens bond with people, and they know we know about them. They sent that Jack fellow to find out what exactly we know about them, but they fail. Hiccup was chased by Jack in the desert, and-”

“We don’t know that for sure,” Tony interrupted him.

“Just- work with me here, alright?” Clint sounded a bit annoyed, “Let’s suppose it’s Jack, how did he get here? And even if it _wasn’t_ Jack, that still begs the question: how did these Bonders get here? They weren’t here before, right? But now they _are_. They must have used something to get here. Thor and Loki travel through Gayfrost or something, but I can–”

“It’s Bifrost.” Now Hiccup had interrupted him. Tony snorted quite ungracefully, and Natasha rolled her eyes.

“That’s the joke…” Clint mumbled, “Anyway, I can imagine those monsters don’t have access to the _Bifrost_.” He eyed Hiccup shortly. “So, what else is there?”

“Well, we do know that _if_ they come here by Tesseract, like Hiccup,” Tony said, “then they appear out of a blue whirlwind. Like Vision told us, too. And Loki once told me there are portals between every world. But they are really hard to find and small. Plus, they are guarded.”

“Well, the Bifrost isn’t the only means of transport that exists,” Hiccup said slowly, “It’s the fastest and most reliable way, yes, but not the only one. With the right Dark Spells one can get anywhere. So, they could have used one of the more dark and secret ways of traveling. I don’t know–”

She stopped, suddenly. A frown appearing on her face. It was as if she remembered something, or realized. The others were silent too, knowing that she was grasping onto something important, and that if they spoke, they could ruin it. Hiccup took a sharp breath.

“I was chased by these Bonders, they attacked me, threw me off of Toothless and nearly killed me. They would not give up. But the moment I crashed down on Ragnar’s ship, they were gone. They never attacked, and I never heard anything of them after.” She shook her head for a moment, confusion still clear on her face.

“But I _did_ see them again on Greenland! They nearly knocked me out of my saddle _again_. Don’t you think it’s a huge coincidence that they attack me and just won’t give up, until when I’m with Ragnar, because then they stop attacking out of nowhere, but later they _do_ show up at the exact same place I was sent to by the Tesseract to attack me again? I don’t think it’s just coincidence anymore. I’m with Clint on this.”

She nodded slowly, looking at the others in earnest. “I think Ragnar is working with the Bonders, and using the Tesseract to send them here.”

  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's back, back again? Shady's back, tell a friend. Guess who's back, guess who's back?  
> I am!!  
> Here's the chapter you were hoping for. Hiccup meets (some of) the others, they talk dragons, secrets are revealed, Ragnar is even more evil than we thought, connections are made, Peter is a little cutie, the plot moves forward and our friends have to come up with a plan to stop the Bonders and rescue the dragons, without getting Steve suspicious in the meanwhile!  
> The next chapter, their real plan is going to be set in motion. Let the corruption of the Avengers begin!


	27. Search Of The Dragon Riders

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know, like, before and while I write chapters of this story, I watch certain scenes of HTTYD 1 or HTTYD Race To The Edge episodes on Netflix to get some inspiration and a grip of the characters and stuff like that, but what’s supposed to be around 10-20 minutes of research easily turns into an hour or two… I love HTTYD too much goshdarnit.

The hot, dry air hung around like an invisible blanket, capturing all the warmth the sun cast down, keeping it down to the ground so it had no way of escape. There was no vegetation to be seen, no sign of life either. It was silent, even the gentle breeze making sand flew up did not make a sound. There seemed to be no one there, an empty land. No one in sight…

Or was there?

Four, black claws attached to a blue paw stamped down on the sand, sinking in a little, grains rolling down covering it partially. Another paw with black claws hit the sand, set down a little before the first. The first claw arched up a little, pawing the ground to dig a trench in the soft ground. Then it was set down again.

Small, black feathering sat on the back of the blue scaled legs, setting a few more steps forward. The underbelly of the animal was a light beige, reaching all the way from the beginning of the tail, to the tip of the chin. Bright and light turquoise scales lay in layers across the animal’s whole body, a dazzling blue reflecting the light of the sun. There were other colors of scales too: gold, red, tan and purple creating stunning patterns.

Large wings flapped a time or two, creating some wind for the animal too cool off slightly. The wings were mottled with darker shades of blue spots that were circled by gold and red spots, reaching from the hooks at the end of the wing joints, to the reddish shoulders. Under the wings was a mixture of gold and tan, showing as the animal spread them.

Ringing its head was a crown of spikes, turned downwards a little to express its relaxed state. Its tail was striped blue and gold, a series of spines coating it. The spines also lay flat, as no danger had presented itself. In front of clever, yellow eyes was a curved nasal horn, making it hard for the creature to look right in front of its nose.

It was a Deadly Nadder; a fierce dragon that was as proud as it was beautiful, and, of course, deadly. It was a female, this one. The Deadly Nadder let out a soft squawk, sniffing the dry air a few times, then shaking her head, the head spikes rattling softly as they touched in the movement. She rustled her tail, the spikes making a rattling noise.

The Nadder raised her head up high, and stopped her steps, letting out a sad squawk. She turned her head this way, and that, set a few more steps but ended up walking in circles. Back and forth, no clear path, no idea where to go. There was a whiff of a familiar scent in the air, but the trail stopped at one point, and the Nadder did not know what to do.

Vivid blue eyes searched the empty plains, gaze gliding from the left to the right and back again. Aside from a few green, spikey plants called cactuses, there was nothing. No grass, no water, no life. Nothing. No trail of what the eyes were searching for. Fingers curled around the handlers of a brown saddle, nails digging into the sturdy leather, knuckles turning white.

Damp, blonde hair stuck to a pretty face, one of the hands came up to brush it away from the eyes. A small nose scrunched up, face reddened by the head and by anger. The Deadly Nadder sniffed a few times again, then squawked loudly. Its steps quickened, a scent picked up again, its neck stretched out, nostrils flaring.

The wings spread out, beating up and down, faster and faster. The Nadder took to the skies, yet stayed relatively low. She soared through the air, nostrils trembling as she was desperate to find the source of the scent.

There was complete trust, the person on the back of the blue dragon kept up beat for beat. adjusting fractionally with every twist, tilt and turn. A deep breath; salt. The sea was near, and the dragon was heading there. In the far, far distance there was a pen stripe thin line of blue. The endless valley of sand turned into rock and even a few wisps of yellow grass. The faint scent of salt became stronger.

They flew over rocks, over sand, then over the coastline, they reached the sea, waves rising and falling in a rhythm only it could follow. The Deadly Nadder banked and they flew at some high sea stacks. The Nadder flared her wings, landing on top of one, shaking her head and pawing the ground. The rider watched the surroundings, but saw nothing other than sand and sea. There was no ship, no dragon, and no friend.

The rider patted the dragon on the side of her neck, whispering attagirl’s and speaking gratitude. The Nadder let out a soft, purr-like sound. The rider waited, sitting high on the sea stack and on the back of a dragon. A sigh trembling with frustration and despondency left pink lips, fingers squeezing the leather again.

Both dragon and rider looked up at the sky when they heard a soft fluttering of wings approach. From along the coastline came another dragon. This dragon was quite different from the Deadly Nadder, and not only in size. This dragon had a large, stout body with a brown, warty skin, and a clubbed tail. It had huge jaws in its large mouth, set in a gigantic head, perfect to chew rocks with. This was a Gronckle, one of the toughest dragons in the world.

On the back of the Gronckle, sat a chubby boy with a large body. The dragon landed on the sea stack, next to the taller standing Deadly Nadder. The riders looked at each other, hope in their eyes, wiped away when they both shook their head.

"I found nothing," the rider of the Deadly Nadder said. She was a girl, with blonde hair and blue eyes, a lean, yet muscled frame, and there was an ax strapped to her back. Though beautiful in appearance, she was as deadly as the dragon she was sitting on.

"Me neither," the boy on the Gronckle answered.

They both looked a little gloomy, eyes searching around another time as if what they were looking for would suddenly appear before them. It did not.

"Did Stormfly pick up on any new scents?"

The girl shook her head, stroking the Nadder’s scales with the tips of her fingers. "No, nothing. There is a scent leading from the desert to the sea, but it stops here. It’s like they disappeared into thin air."

"Could they have dived for a moment, and resurface somewhere else?"

"Even if they would, we scouted the whole area, Stormfly would have picked up on _something_. The trail just… stops."

The Gronckle rumbled, and the Nadder squawked back, exchanging what they had seen but not found. The blonde girl dipped her head, staring at her hands pinching the saddle, lips pursed tightly. She did not want to say it. She did not want to admit it. The dragons made a few more chirping and growling sounds, wings flaring slightly and head cocking and tilting.

"What if we try the call again?" the boy suggested, he had no idea what else to do either.

The girl nodded, why not? They both cleared their throat. Calling out together reached further than calling out alone. Deep, screaming roars emerged from their throats, echoing through the air. The two dragons raised their heads, letting out soft noises and moved a bit in place. There came no answer, nothing.

The boy grew a little nervous, fiddling with his fingers, "Maybe… maybe if we–"

"Save it, Fishlegs," the girl said, her defeated posture saying it all, "Let’s head back."

She gently pressed her heel in her dragon’s side. The Deadly Nadder spread her wings and took off, with quick wing flaps to gain altitude. The boy on the Gronckle stayed behind a moment more, watching the girl and her Nadder fly away at a fast pace. He looked down at his dragon, petting her head.

"Let’s go, Meatlug, if they were ever here, they’re not anymore now."

The Gronckle named Meatlug let out a few high-pitched whines, eyes big and sad. Then she started flapping her small wings, slowly rising into the air and forwards after the Deadly Nadder.

Back did not mean Berk, the Wrurora desert was too far away from Berk to fly up and down in one day, so they had a made-up camp in the middle. It was positioned on the same way Hiccup and Toothless had flown towards the village in the desert. Stormfly had followed their scent all the way to the village, asked around a little, got nothing more than a weak ‘Yeah, they were here, they flew away there’, which did not help them at all.

Then they had followed the scent to the ocean, and that was where it stopped. Fishlegs and Meatlug had searched the whole coast, but found nothing. Not a sign of the Night Fury or his rider. Fishlegs wished that it had just been a day or two, but it had been _weeks_ since they last saw each other. Hiccup was his best friend, and he missed her. He missed geeking out with her about things, studying dragons and islands, and working on her inventions.

The Riders of Berk had split up in multiple groups. Astrid and Fishlegs had followed the original path to the village, because Stormfly was a tracker dragon and could follow their scents after they had left the village, but they end up with empty hands and no step further. The other team was Snotlout with the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, they followed the original route shortly, then went off course, heading east. The last group was Stoick and Gobber, they headed west from the original route, in case Hiccup got lost on the way there.

When Fishlegs and Meatlug arrived, they saw the other riders were already there. The camp was simple, some tents and half-made shelters. The twins’ dragon, the Zippleback named Barf and Belch, was being fed fish by the twins, while Hookfang, the Monstrous Nightmare of Snotlout, was drinking from a bucket.

Down below, Fishlegs saw Astrid taking her saddle off of Stormfly’s back, reaching for the fish basket and opening it for Stormfly to eat. Meatlug landed in the middle of the camp, and Fishlegs about fell off. His muscles were cramped up a bit, and he stretched his arms above his back in an attempt to loosen up a little.

The other riders looked at him shortly, but they had already heard from Astrid that they had found nothing either, thus they did not pay much attention to him. That was not specifically about him, but more that they had lost interest for pretty much everything. Even the twins did not feel like pranking anyone anymore, which said a whole lot about their state.

Stoick and Gobber were hunched over a map, pointing at places they could search, crossing off the island they had already looked, discussing strategies. They were thinking about calling in the Auxiliary riders too. They were also known as the A-team, are group of dragon riders founded by Astrid. They acted as a back-up force on the Isle of Berk. They were meant to defend Berk while the main Dragon Riders were away fighting against the Dragon Hunters or exploring.

Though they could not leave Berk undefended, some extra eyes would be much appreciated. It just was a lot of land, and they had no clue where to look. Fishlegs absently threw some rocks Meatlug’s way, she caught them in her mouth and chomped down on them, but it did nothing to lift her spirit. As long as Hiccup and Toothless were missing, the team was down. It just did not feel the same. It was like there was a chunk out of their team.

"No, Gobber, we have already looked at Sunstone Island," Stoick said then, "She’s not there."

"I know, Chief, it’s just that it’s one of her favorite islands. Or what about Team Hiccup?"

Astrid let out a huff of a laugh at the last one. She remembered well, they had found the island with the whole team, nearly got killed by a pack of wild Titan Deadly Nadders, but Hiccup had saved them all and so they decided to call it Team Hiccup. They never went there again because of the Nadders, but Hiccup was proud to say there was an island named after her.

"Why would she be there? That’s the complete opposite way!"

Fishlegs sighed a little, walking away from the two squabbling men, towards the rest of the team. Ruffnut lifted her head up at him, giving him a short nod. Fishlegs nodded back. He walked up at Astrid, who was absently running a brush up and down her dragon’s side. Stormfly was picking out the fish she liked from the basket, letting out an occasional purr at her rider, to know she was appreciated.

"Hey," Fishlegs said softly, "Are you alright?"

Astrid merely shook her head, of course she was not alright. She was not fine, she was not okay. She was devastated, she missed her friend, she wanted her friend back. The pain sat deep in her chest, nagging her insides and making her legs feel heavy. Hiccup was gone, she was nowhere to be seen, every trail was a dead end.   

"They’ve been gone for weeks, Fishlegs, I- what if something happened to them?"

"Hiccup’s one of the smartest persons I know, and let’s not forget Toothless is with her."

"But what if he isn’t? What if they got separated? Fishlegs, what if she’s–"

"No, we can’t think like that!" he interrupted her, "We have to keep looking."

And while they two of them debated whether or not Hiccup was still with them, if they should keep looking and for how long, the twins were having their own conversation. It was not as important as the conversation of the other two teams, but they had nothing else to talk about, and they tried not to think about all the horrible possibilities that could have happened to their leader.

"We gotta have something that fits her personality, something that sounds cool yet hot at the same time. It has to be something that will withstand time, and dragon hunters all over the world will remember."

Ruffnut nodded, completely agreeing with her brother. It was true. They had to find a catchphrase that suited Hiccup’s personality, that fit her, that would sound amazing when she said it. It had to be something unique, something Hiccup-y, something that suited her sarcasm and irony, because frankly, Hiccup had quite a lot of that.

"Hey, what about, ‘Victory is my second name!’" Ruffnut suggested, her fist up before her.

Tuffnut thought about it a little, chewing on the catchphrase. "Isn’t her second name Horrendous, though?"

"Oh right… then what about, ‘Taste my mace, talons!’"

"Ohhh, I like that one." Tuffnut was silent for a moment, seemingly hesitating, "But it’s not really something Hiccup would say, is it?"

"Do you have a better one?"

"Hmm… ‘Is that an ax in your face, or are you just happy to see me?’"

"Didn’t Hiccup already said no to that one?"

The twins had been trying for months to come up with a catchphrase that suited Hiccup, but she kept declining them. She had to be cooler than she was now. She was the hero of the Archipelago, and a living legend in the rest of the world! She was the girl who rode the Night Fury, the mysterious dragon rider that took down hundreds of ships, destroyed whole fleets, and ‘controlled’ the offspring of Lightning and Death itself.

She had to have something that would strike fear in the hearts of her enemies, something they would remember her by. She needed a killer catchphrase. One line that would withstand the test of time. As the sands and the ocean passed, her words would remain. After all, she had defeated some of the toughest, most ruthless villains in the world.

"’You are the board to my game, dragon hunter!’" Tuffnut said, making his voice sound smooth.

"That’s more of a flirt than a threat, Tuff."

The twin boy threw his head back, moaning loudly. "This is so hard! Hiccup’s always so hard to please, what can she say that’s both cool, doesn’t overpack, sounds like her, and will be remembered? Hey, Astrid!"

He called out to the girl cleaning her dragon. She did not react, so he called again, thinking she had simply not heard her. The truth was, Astrid did not _want_ to react. She wanted to be left alone, to think.

"Astrid!"

"Guys!" Fishlegs hissed, "Now’s not the time!"

The three turned their head towards Astrid, who stood with her back to them, not wanting to face them, even for a moment. Her right hand grabbed her left underarm tightly, biting her bottom lip and casting her eyes down. The brush lay forgotten in the sand, and Stormfly was letting out soft squawks.

The twins shared a short look, eyes softening. They realized that she was not answering on purpose, and that it was not because of them, but because of Hiccup. Tuffnut walked up at Astrid, laying a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, we didn’t mean it in a bad way. We- we were just trying to cheer you up a bit."

"Yeah," Ruffnut chimed in, appearing on the other side of the blonde, "It really sucks that Hiccup’s gone, believe me, we know. And we’re sorry."

Astrid only nodded.

In the meanwhile, Gobber stood looking at Stoick’s map with a heavy tongue in his throat. The map pointed out a thousand places, hundreds of islands, and they had not even found all of them. There was so much more in the world, it was so big, but for some reason, Gobber felt that they were not going to find Hiccup on any of these.

It was an unexplainable, yet undeniable, feeling. It sat deep in his chest, refusing to go away or lessen. It was a constant nagging in his guts, and he hated it. He did not want to admit, or even _think_ about the possibility, he did not want to make it true. It was not a feeling that said Hiccup was in Valhalla right now, but it did say she was not anywhere near here either.

Staring at this map for hours, looking at the same islands again and again, it was not going to help them, or Hiccup. She had been gone for a long while, and they had heard nothing. No Terror mail, no letter, no sign of her anywhere… the last thing they heard from her was a pouch of gold she had made with the delivery of that stupid package with whatever inside. After that, no sign of her.

"Chief, listen, I hate to be the one to say it…"

"Then _don’t_ ," Stoick growled back, not even looking at his friends. His large hands were clenched to fists, deep, frustrated breaths left his nose, and his whole stance was tensed. He knew what Gobber wanted to say, and he did not agree with it, he did not need to hear it. Saying it would only make it real, but it wasn’t. They could not give up.

Gobber was silent for a moment, sighing softly. He hated seeing his best friend like this. He had lost someone of his tribe; his own daughter. His own flesh and blood, the last family he had left. She was gone, and they had no idea where to look, where she could be. They had searched everywhere, but she was nowhere to be found. It was as if Odin himself had swept her from the face of Ljósfold.

He turned towards the group, "We’ve been lookin’ for _weeks_ now, you all will have to prepare yourself to accept that maybe…" his voice quivered, "That maybe… maybe Hiccup’s never coming home."

A shock wave went through the group. Sharp breaths were sucked in, heads were being shaken. The reactions were different with each person. While Fishlegs was staring down at the ground, trying so hard to keep the tears at bay, Snotlout was staring up at the blacksmith with wide open eyes and a slacked jaw, a shocked and denying look on his face.

Tuffnut’s lips curled down, Macey slipped from his fingers, hitting the ground with a dull _thud_. The boy twin slowly shook his head, legs giving out underneath him as he fell to his knees. Ruffnut looked down at her brother, gripping his shoulder tightly to offer him and herself some form of comfort. Her chin quivered slightly.

The only one who did not seem near to tears, or too shocked to give any form of reaction, was Astrid. Her hands were clenched to fists, a rage in her baby blue eyes. Her jaw was clenched, and she gave a sharp shake of her head, refusing to accept this.

"No," she said. "Gobber said ‘maybe’, Hiccup could be still out there!"

Ruffnut was the only one who looked at her, her lips parting, but she closed her mouth again and shook her head. Astrid looked back at her desperately, "Come on, guys, we can’t give up! Hiccup needs us!"

"I agree," Stoick said, walking up at the young Viking girl, laying a heavy hand on her shoulder, "Astrid’s right, we can’t stop now. We will continue searching."

"But what if…" Ruffnut did not dare to finish her sentence.

Stoick looked at her, "Even if she is, I want to know for sure. I’m not abandoning my daughter for a ‘maybe’ or a ‘perhaps’."

Snotlout was nodding now too, a fast nodding with his lips pressed to a thin line. He too, did not want to think about the possibility of it all being over. Every little sliver of hope was welcomed, every reason for Hiccup being alive still was embraced tightly. He did not want to give up on her either, even if that meant they had to fly to the end of the world. He would do whatever it took, just like Astrid and Stoick.

Tuffnut stood back up, wiping sand from his clothes and nodding too. He set a step forward, "I’m in. I’ll keep searching till the Halls of Valhalla!"

"Till the end of the world!" Snotlout chimed in.

"Till the bottom of the ocean," Stoick said.

A wide smile broke out on Astrid’s face.

The only one quiet this time, was Fishlegs. The young Viking said nothing, because he was reading. On his shoulder sat a red Terrible Terror, licking its eyeball with its long tongue. He had received a Terror Mail, and Fishlegs was quickly skimming through the words. "Hey, you guys!"

Heads turned towards him, the note was not from Hiccup, sadly, but it did give them hope. Dragon Hunters were signaled just around the corner from where Hiccup’s scent trail ended, close to where they were setting up camp. They were sailing around suspiciously, not quite leaving.

"Till all the dragon hunter ships are destroyed," Astrid said, grabbing her ax.

   

* * *

   

Blue eyes narrowed at the ship in the distance. It was a ship unlike the smaller ships from the Hooligans, Outcasts or the Berserkers that they had faced many times before. This ship was massive. It was a brigantine, with three large sails billowing, a familiar symbol painted on them, and it was fast. It was a dragon hunter ship, just like they had been looking for all noon. Astrid steered Stormfly up higher, and the other riders followed.

These types of ships were equipped with Dragon-proof chains, catapults, Dragon Root Arrow ballistas, and many other powerful weapons. There had been times they were forced to retreat upon facing a large group of these strong ships. And inside, there were also a great number of booby traps. The riders had been inside one of those ships many times before, the way they were designed and build was genius, Hiccup had often said.

The cages in which the dragons were held could only be reached by one, heavily guarded entrance. That meant that if the Dragon Riders were to attack, if the hunters had brought the trapped dragons below deck, it would be nearly impossible for the Riders to free them. These ships were made of great oak trees, so the ships wouldn't be destroyed by one shot by a Night Fury or Deadly Nadder.

Astrid recalled times of Outcast attacks, where they could easily overcome dozens of those, because they were small, made of weak wood, and had a very small amount of weaponry. This was something else. Snotlout had scouted the area, no other ship in sight, this one was on its own. Easier for them.

"Surprise attack, full blast," Astrid said, clenching her hand to a fist, "But let the crew live, we need information."

The team nodded, casting another glance at the ship. The twins shared a quick look, pointing at the back of the ship. They were going to attack from behind. The Hideous Zippleback they were riding agreed with a growl. Or growls, actually, since it had two heads.

The dragon had two long, serpentine necks with rounded spikes on it, the twins sat positioned just behind the head, holding on to the two thinner horns on top of its short head, which had another, large horn on the nose. The two tails flicked in the air, almost like two dangerous cobras. The dragon had four, short legs, but with sharp claws.

The dragon was not the fastest, but it made up with its gas and spark attack, its stealth and the impossibility to sneak up on a Zippleback, because of its two heads. A Zippleback has a special ability to simultaneously transmit information to both of their brains; if one head saw danger the other knew it immediately too, which had come in handy more than once.

"Let’s go!" Astrid said, steering her dragon down again.

The group split out, now they were with four of them, they could all attack from a different side of the ship. Snotlout took the front, calling all the attention to him, and made sure the spooked Dragon Hunters started firing at him. Then, from the sides, Astrid and Fishlegs charged. Meatlug raised her head a little, mouth pressed closed tight. When they had reached the ship, she released a lava ball, which blew up one of the ballistas.

The poisonous spikes on Stormfly’s tail shot upwards, rattling slightly. Dragon and rider came in closer, then Stormfly, flared her wings out and flicked her tail forward while turning to the side slightly, launching the spikes with devastating speed. The hunters had to let go of their crossbows, jumping to the side or grabbing a shield.

At the back of the ship, Ruffnut and Tuffnut were building up a large cloud of gas. Ruffnut pushed the horns of her dragon down slightly, to let him know the gas could be released, while Tuffnut made sure his dragon head, Belch, did not create a spark just yet. The cloud grew bigger and bigger, enveloping the backside of the ship completely. The hunters knew something was wrong, they saw the green smoke and smelled a sharp scent in the air.

"Now, Belch!" Tuffnut yelled.

Belch growled, then opened his mouth and sparks crackled. The sparks caught hold of the smoke, and the cloud exploded into a wild fire. The ship was blown forward a few feet by the force, and the twins steered their dragon back into the air.

It was not over yet.

"More ships approaching from the South!" Fishlegs called out.

Astrid came to a halt in the air, reaching for her spyglass and looking at the horizon. Two more Dragon Hunter ships were coming in hot. The ships were fast, so it would not take long before they were here.

"Hold your ground! We’re not leaving before we get some answers!"

There were only two more ships, that should not be much of a problem. It was no armada, or a whole fleet. So even though they did not have Hiccup and Toothless, they could still win. They tried blasting up the first found ship as quickly as possible, so that it would not form a threat anymore as the other two drew nearer.

Astrid charged the first approaching ship. She dodged some arrows by spinning to her left, then dove down, flying along the hull of the heavily armed ship. Stormfly fired a single blast at a net catapult, blowing it up. She saw another catapult aimed at the Gronckle, who had just fired a lava blast at a nearby ballista. She took a deep breath and shouted, "Fishlegs, boulder!"

The men on the ship pulled the lever of the catapult, hurling the large boulder up into the air, and towards the dragon. The Gronckle spun around, catching the boulder with ease between her teeth, crushing it with a single bite. "Dinner is serving!" Fishlegs said, hitting his first in the air.

The Deadly Nadder approached the ship again, twirling around the arrows and blasting at the scattering men on deck. "Watch out for the arrows, guys!"

The twins joined Astrid, protecting her wing as they charged, spewing gas and sparks at the nets and boulders, while Stormfly flicked out her tail to shoot some more spines at the hunters. Snotlout came in hot at the opposite side, his dragon spewing out a gigantic stream of raging fire. The ear-piercing roar of the Monstrous Nightmare was enough to make at least some of the hunters drop their weapons and jump overboard.

"Come and get it, you cowards!" Snotlout shouted, as Hookfang fired another blast.

Fishlegs scanned the decks, looking for potentially hidden threats, and for any trapped dragons. They were probably below deck, in those many cages. Meatlug blasted her way to the lower deck and they flew through. Fishlegs stood up in the stirrups, reaching out for the control chains that hung on the ceiling, pulling at them to open up the cages in which a few dragons were standing.

"Nice work, girl!" Fishlegs praised his dragon, as they soared through the air again.

Stormfly squawked loudly, firing another round of arrows. More hunters dropped their weapons and jumped behind the mast for shelter. Others held up shields, but then got blasted backwards by a wave of Zippleback gas anyway. One of the hunters, however, quickly pulled the lever of a catapult, hurling a boulder right at the two-headed dragon. Ruffnut caught sight of the boulder first, and could yank her dragon’s head up just in time, but Tuffnut could not, and before the girl twin could warn her brother, he was already hit and plummeting down.

"Tuffnut!" Ruffnut yelled.

The Zippleback wanted to dive after the lost rider immediately, but the whistle of arrows approached, and they had to dodge them by flying up further. Astrid saw the falling rider, and set the chase, pitching into a dive. They were just fast enough to catch Tuffnut, helping him up into the saddle. Stormfly pulled up again, skimming the water before hurtling back into the sky.

"Astrid, net!" Tuffnut warned, but it was too late. Two nets were fired, one rapidly after the other. Astrid could just dodge the first one, but the second hit. Stormfly’s wings got tangled up in the net and they plummeted down, rolling, twisting and turning. Astrid pulled a knife and tried cutting through the net, but they hit the water before she could.

"They're down! Get them!" a dragon hunter called out.

While the few left-over hunters tried to pull the trapped dragon in, high up in the air, Snotlout had jumped over from Hookfang to Belch. The Monstrous Nightmare let out a distressed wail, but the dark-haired Viking assured him it was okay, that he would be back in a minute. Ruffnut could not steer the two headed dragon all by herself, she needed some help. Fishlegs were caught up attacking the other ships, Astrid and Tuffnut were caught, and Hiccup was not here, so Snotlout was the only one left.

"I gas, you spark," Ruffnut ordered, and Snotlout nodded.

The Zippleback pitched into a perfectly arched dive, then flaring his wings widely so they raced along the side of the ship at high speed. Ruffnut pushed the black horns down again, and Barf released a high amount of gas, clouding around the edge of the ship. They steered all around the large boat, surrounding it in green smoke.

"Now, Snotlout!"

Snotlout pushed the horns of the head down, and Belch sparked, lighting up the huge amount of highly-explosive gas. It exploded, rocking the ship by its force, throwing all the hunters off their feet. They hovered at the side, firing a last round to blow up the net Stormfly was caught in. The two riders on the Nadder pulled themselves together and race up into the sky, the Zippleback following closely after.

Hookfang caught up with them, guarding their side as Snotlout got back to his own dragon again, and so did Tuffnut. The three dragons scattered, each taking a side, all going in for the final strike.

"Stormfly, twirl!"

Dodging a few more arrows, Stormfly blasted the last catapults to shreds, setting parts of the ship on fire. Meatlug went for the ballistas, Hookfang for the nets, and Barf and Belch for the hunters. The decks were cleaned soon after, and the Hunters gave up. The four dragons landed on the middle ship, the riders drawing their own weapons as they stalked closer, eyes out for any dangers.

Astrid had an ax in her hand, fingers wrapped around it tightly, the blade out towards the hunters, who were down on their knees. Tuffnut was holding his trusted mace, Macey. They were more than just friends, Tuffnut believed they were soulmates. Snotlout held a large sword, and Fishlegs did too. Ruffnut was holding a crossbow she had picked up from the deck.

The blonde-haired Viking walked up at the closest hunter, pushing the blade of her ax against his throat. She spoke slowly, but that only made it scarier, "Where. Is. Hiccup?"

The hunter shook his head, the arrogant look in his eyes telling her he thought _he_ was holding the cards. But he did not. He most certainly did not. Astrid jerked her head towards the hunter. Stormfly squawked, padding up to them, lifting her tail up high and the spines shot up, she flared her wings out, making herself taller.

Though the hunters looked quite uneasy, they still did not talk. Snotlout noticed this, and snapped his fingers, calling Hookfang’s attention. The Nightmare looked at his rider, who had his hand up and clenched to a fist. Then he unclenched his hand with force, as if mimicking an explosion. The dragon understood immediately, and raised up on his hind legs, flaring his wings out far. With a screaming roar, the Nightmare set itself on fire, snapping its jaws at the hunters.

Barf and Belch then noticed that both Stormfly and Hookfang were taking their threatening poses, and they automatically assumed they _all_ had to do that. So, even without the twins’ approval, they flared their wings, raising their heads up high and hissed. Belch let his flames spark, while Barf let out small portions of gas, just enough to create a tiny explosion to threaten with.

"We- we don’t know what you’re talking about!" the hunter, who had the ax against his throat, said.

With a scoff, Astrid pressed the blade harder against his skin. "Liar! Tell me, where are Hiccup and the Night Fury?!"

Stormfly squawked, rapidly flapping her wings up and down without rising into the air, lowering her head and drawing her tail nearer. Hookfang thrust out, snapping his jaws closer once more. Barf and Belch once again created a tiny explosion, hissing and spatting. Meatlug did not really do something, she was just watching the hunters and the other two ships. One of them was almost completely destroyed, the other remained uncertain.

"I swear, I don’t know!" the hunter called out.

A furious scream left Astrid’s throat, "Then bring me someone who _does_!"

Arms were raised, fingers pointing at one of the hunters. He was wearing a red helmet, which indicated he was in charge of this ship. Perhaps even of all three, they did not know exactly how the Dragon Hunter leader system worked. The team stalked forward, dragging out the man to the front, surrounding him with dragons to make sure he did not escape.

"You know more about her disappearance?" Astrid asked, aiming her ax at his head.

The hunter nodded, but said no word.

"You’re gonna tell us?"

He shook his head.

Astrid sighed loudly, then turned to Stormfly. "We’re not going to kill you, hunter, but there are plenty of ways to make living a hell for you."

Stormfly’s spines jumped up, Hookfang burst out into flames, and Barf and Belch brought their heads down close to the dragon hunter, blowing some gas and lighting it up, just to scare him. Tuffnut was hitting the handle of his mace in his hand, indicating he was going to hit down hard if the hunter did not start talking. Ruffnut was aiming the arrow at the hunter’s most sensitive point, a limb he most certainly did not want to lose.

"Start talking, or I’ll start shooting," she threatened.

Tuffnut caught her intention, and came a little closer, lowering his voice a bit, "Uh, sis? You sure we can do that?"

"For Hiccup? For our best friend, our leader, our family? Yes."

Just as Hookfang brought his flaming snout closer, mouth opening to show gigantic teeth in large rows, the hunter broke.

"Okay, okay! I’ll tell you what I know!"

The dragons backed off, Astrid lowered her ax, and the others did the same with their crossbow, swords, and mace. They leaned back, waiting, staring intensely. The dragon hunter shifted a little in his position, clearing his throat.

"It’s Ragnar," he said, "He’s been building this weapon, it’s not like anything anyone has ever seen before. He had this… other thing, we don’t know what it is, but we do know that’s it’s extremely dangerous, and it’s powering that new weapon of his."

"What does that weapon do? And what does it have to do with Hiccup?" Snotlout asked.

"He tested it out on her, and it–"

Before he could continue explaining, Tuffnut had slammed Macey in the deck between his legs, just barely missing skin and flesh. "He did WHAT?!" the twin yelled.

Ruffnut pulled him back quickly, telling him to calm down. Astrid, though furious too, gestured for him to continue. The dragon hunter licked his chapped lips, eyes darting from rider to rider, from dragon to dragon.

"It creates something like a whirlpool, like a tornado. But it is nothing like the weather things, this is something else. It brings people somewhere else."

"What in Thor’s name does _that_ mean?" Fishlegs asked.

"It means the whirlpool thing acts like a doorway, but once you’re inside, you ain’t ending up in the neighboring room."

"Then where _do_ you end up? Stop speaking in riddles, and just tell us," Snotlout snapped.

"It brings you to other worlds, boy," the hunter answered, "One of the other nine Realms, but let me tell you something, it ain’t Asgard."

The riders looked at each other with wide open eyes and slacked jaws. A doorway to another world? To another realm? They had heard of realm traveling before, but that was a privilege of the gods, of the most important people. Ragnar was the leader of the dragon hunters, and now he had a weapon that could transport people to another realm?

That was impossible, that couldn’t be! It did explain why Hiccup was gone all the sudden, why she had left not even the smallest of notes, how she had fallen off the face of the world. But they did not want to believe it, they couldn’t! It had to be some kind of dark magic, something they had hoped they would never have to face.

"Which realm?" Fishlegs asked, searching for answers, "Is it Jotunheim? Alfheim? Vanaheim?"

The hunter laughed, "If it had been any of those realms, your friend would have had a small chance at least to survive."

"Is she…" Tuffnut stilled, and looked at Ruffnut, who finished the sentence, "… in Niflheim?"

Niflheim was about the opposite of Valhalla, it was a dark, barren realm. It was where Hell was. And the legends said that Hela, Goddess of Death, lived there, killing all that set foot in her realm, on her grounds.

"No," the hunter said, getting some relieved breaths, "Try Midgard."

Midgard? The team once again exchanged confused looks. Then they looked at Fishlegs for answers. They did not know much about Midgard, other than that it was their twin realm, because they had come to be at the exact same time, and looked almost exactly alike. Fishlegs did not ashen upon hearing Midgard, if anything, he looked confused too.

"Midgard, it’s called ‘Earth’ by its inhabitants, that are named Humans," Fishlegs said, sprouting facts, "It orbits around a single sun and has only one permanent natural satellite, named Luna, though usually simply called the Moon, just like Ljósfold. It’s pretty densely populated, they stay on their own planet, don’t go looking for trouble on other realms… I don’t see the problem."

The hunter laughed again, and Astrid really wanted to hit his head with her ax. It would be easy, just a little swing and he would stop talking forever. She did not do it, though, because they had to find Hiccup.

"My boy, humans are one of the cruelest creatures in the universe. They are going to rip your friend and her dragon apart."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt like I just HAD to include the others, you must have wondered what they were doing while Hiccup's gone, and well, this! They are looking for her, and they ain't gonna give up! Next chapter will be about dragons and avengers again.


	28. Science Project (or not)

**_Three Days Later…_ **

   

" _Ah_ , Thor have mercy on my soul, what is this terrible piece of clothing?!”

"They’re jeans."

"Well, these _jeans_ are way too tight! It is torture! You are so cruel."

"They are supposed to be tight, they’re skinny jeans. And you look fantastic in them!"

Hiccup glared at Tony, pulling a bit at the fabric of the pants she was wearing. They were a light blue color, reached to her belly button and were _very_ tight. Not around the middle, but around her legs. Tony said it would stretch out a bit if she had walked around in them for a while, and had been washed, but she hated it already. The store they were in was filled with clothes, surely they could pick something else.

While walking across the streets, not necessarily New York City, waiting until it was time for the plan, they both noticed she was stared at wherever she went. Though these were New Yorkers, and were used to pretty much everything, it did call the attention and people remembered the odd girl in the leather and metal clothes. Because they did not want her to stand out so much, they were now looking for normal clothing.

Tony sighed overly dramatic, " _Fine_ , you want to try on the less tight jeans, miss Haddock?"

"Gladly, mister Stark, or I’ll just be wearing my own pants."

They eventually settled for less tight jeans, and a white shirt with short sleeves that said ‘Smile’ in black letters, it had a black edge around the end of the sleeves and around the neck. Over the shirt, if she got cold, she could wear a hoodie, it was a plain black one. Hiccup liked it, it felt so soft from the inside. The new clothes were nothing like anything she had ever worn before. She had worn fur and tunics, these pieces were made of fabric she had never seen before. She did like it, though.

The only thing they struggled with during the outfit changing was her metal leg. The employee of the clothes shop (or whatever it was called) had looked with wide eyes how she took off her leg and put it back on so easily to try on the jeans.

And that was also one of the problems they had to deal with in general: her leg was so unique that it was easily recognizable. She could cut her hair, give herself a spray paint (to change your skin color a bit, Tony had explained, Hiccup then asked why in the name of Thor you would want to do that), put on a lot of make-up, but she just could not hide that _leg_. Tony offered to make her a new one, but Hiccup said that she valued this one, and that she could not control Toothless’ prosthetic tailfin with any other.

Though that was a problem for later, now they were shopping, and shopping was supposed to be a relaxing activity. After they had picked the right clothes, got Hiccup a new fancy backpack to put her stuff in (instead of that odd satchel with the Night Fury painted on it), they had only one thing left to buy: shoes.

The employee of the store had looked up strangely when Tony said they only needed one shoe. Then he had awkwardly looked at her metal leg. Their first thought was sneakers. A lot of teenagers wore those things these days. While Hiccup was not really a teenager, but more of a young adult, she still wanted to try them on. They looked really cool. She tried if she could hide her leg in one of those things, but if she wanted to hide her full metal leg in it she needed a shoe with a higher shaft.

Her thoughts were constantly wondering back to Toothless. She obviously couldn’t take the dragon into New York City to shop with her, but she felt so bad leaving him behind. She remembered her promises, she wouldn’t go somewhere where he could not come, and she would never go somewhere to have fun without him.

Though he didn’t exactly like it, the dragon also understood that this was necessary. He could barely come anywhere here on Midgard because it was so densely populated in comparison to Ljósfold, and he understood in his own dragony way. It was dangerous, and the humans were not used to dragons. So even though he missed Hiccup, he didn’t mind staying back at Tony’s cabin. Besides, Natasha was with him to keep him company. Clint was back at the compound, waiting for Bruce and Peter to ask him for a lift (which was part of the plan to get Bruce to the cabin).

Their plan was to have Peter ‘infiltrate’ the compound, hang out with everyone for a few days, make friends, and then lead them to the cabin. They wanted to go faster at first, but they had to take things slow, or suspicion would rise.

Hiccup and Tony had taken Tony’s car, and by the Gods, Hiccup had screamed her lungs out when they shot forward out of nowhere. She had seen cars before, knew that they drove without anything pushing or pulling them, but sitting inside one was quite… something. It was different, and Tony’s car went so fast!

"You know what?" Tony said then. He walked back at her holding two very, _very_ high shafted shoes in his hands, "What if you try to put on these? Don’t they look amazing?"

They were knee-high boots, made of leather painted black, with laces reaching from the middle of the foot all the way up to the end. Hiccup was told to leave the laces tied, because there was a zipper at the side. She tried stuffing her metal leg in the boot, which worked to some degree. Walking around then became impossible though. She was constantly tripping and nearly sprained her ankle.

Eventually they settled for one sneaker, just for her right foot. They left the other. Then it was time for the plan. While they were out shopping, Peter was forming a bond with Bruce. It was not just to use him and get here, the bond would undeniably be real, because Peter loved everyone and everything, and he loved talking science with people. Because all the people in the compound knew his secret identity, he could openly talk about improving his web fluid for better webs.

They both hoped the kid had made the scientist loosen up, and they hoped even harder he was able to get Bruce to come with him. They had worked hard to come up with some excuses, the main one was that Peter would say that his stuff lay at Tony’s cabin, and that they had to go there for some reason. The kid would work something out, he was smart.

A little later, they hopped back into Tony’s car, it was a flashy red one with an open roof, and Hiccup held on tight when he started driving. While this was what Tony was good at, the steady driving of a car, Hiccup longed for the familiar bucking of a saddle, the constant op and down movement of the rear, wings flapping at either side.

She would be glad when she got to ride Toothless again.

 

* * *

 

They never thought they would say it, nor would they ever admit it, but it was fun to have a teenager roaming around the compound. He had only been here for a few days, but everyone grew fond of him. Perhaps that was just because Peter’s happy and energetic personality, together with his curiousness, politeness and cleverness, made the perfect mix of what all expectations of having a child were.

He was that child parents always said they were going to have. A little annoying sometimes, or a bit too curious and nosy at some occasions, not always listening to the adults, but a bless to have around. He was not rebellious, did what others asked of him, even if he did not like it too much. He was a very open person, loved to share things and listen to others. In his free time, he played with LEGO, read books, and worked on science projects. The perfect child.

And so, it was heartbreaking to hear that exactly _this_ child did not have any parents anymore. They had both died, and so had his uncle. And if that wasn’t bad enough, his uncle had died _in front of him_. He got shot by a mugger, and Peter had sat by his uncle’s side as he passed away. But nobody talked about that, everyone stayed silent. They talked to him about other things instead. Like his beloved ‘memes’, or as Bucky had once called them in confusion ‘mee-mees?’.

As they all were working, either on their research of the Stones, dragons, or the New Alien Party, he would sometimes bust into the room saying all these very random things no one understood and got very confused about. Especially Steve. Some of the others could understand parts of what he meant by their internet experience, and laugh about it. Most of them could put a bit of context to it, yet Steve remained clueless.

For example. One time, Steve was just calmly reading a book at the table, sipping his coffee, when Peter suddenly perked his head up by his side and said, "Some of you never knew who lives in a pineapple under the sea and it shows."

Clint was sitting at the table too, hear this, and laughed hard because he understood. Of course he knew who lived in a pineapple under the sea. But Steve had grown up in nineteen-hundred, of course he did _not_ know who lived there.

"Someone lives in a PINEAPPLE under the SEA?!" He exclaimed. He stared at the kid with wide eyes, then he looked at Clint, "How long was I gone again?"

Loki was also happy to see the young child again, it had been a while because the whole thing with the dragons had popped up and everything, he had missed the brown-haired, brown-eyed, energetic human being. Pietro and Wanda thought it was nice to meet him, Pietro immediately took a liking towards Peter, probably because they shared the same ‘energy’.

Sam and Bucky said Peter was great too, though they would never admit how cool they thought his powers were. In those few days, Peter was already becoming a familiar face.

Not long after Hiccup’s theory that Ragnar was working with the Bonders (they still had to come up with a better name), they all agreed that they had to come up with a plan, fast. There was no time to loose, every minute Ragnar could be sending one of those monsters to Earth. Or his whole armada, or more dragons, whatever he could come up with.

While they had all still been in the cabin, Tony told Peter and Hiccup that back at the compound, the Avengers had been divided into three teams. One of the teams was searching for the Infinity Stones (that whole mess was explained to Peter and Hiccup later), one team was looking for that Alien Party (he explained the Bonders were apparently climbing up the crime ladder, forming a team to do bad things), and one team was on dragon chasing duty.

As he explained it, Tony realized that Steve had unknowingly divided them into the best three teams they could ever have asked for!

Not only Tony and Clint were in the dragon chasing team, but Loki and Bruce were too! It all worked out perfectly, because the first Avengers they wanted to go after were Bruce and Loki. The others then realized what he meant. All they had to do was to gather the Dragon Chasing Team, Tony would tell them there was a dragon somewhere close to this cabin, they would go investigate it, and then they could introduce Loki and Bruce to dragons! It all looked so simple right now.

The team they had to stay away from at all costs was Team Party. That team had Steve, Bucky, Sam and Natasha in it. The last was not the problem, but the other three were their _biggest_ problems.

They explained to Hiccup that Steve was about the most stubborn man on Earth. He believed in justice and was all righteous and stuff. If he had set his mind on something, it was damn near impossible to chance it. Bucky was his best friend, they were inseparable, even though Bucky was quite different from how he used to be. Sam was also a _very_ close friend to Steve. They were _the_ danger zone.

So, they had to go after Team Dragon Chasing Duty first, because that team included two of their already ‘devoted’, plus two members who were about the easiest to convince. Loki because Tony was close to him, and Bruce because he was very open about everything. Bruce, like the old Greek, believed that opinions were things one carried around and could change easily. He could hate a person one day, and become close friends the other (if they had shown they were worthy of that).

If they showed Bruce dragons were big softies that could be reasoned with, Bruce would probably give in. Mainly because he must know what it is like to be viewed as a monster, as something you are not.

Now that three days had passed, Peter had perfectly infiltrated and won everyone’s trust (not that that was hard for him anyway, like they had suspected: everyone took a liking to him, you just couldn’t dislike him), and phase two of the plan was set in motion.

Peter was going to ask Bruce to come to the cabin, while Hiccup and Tony went shopping for better clothes for her to wear.

As Clint had said earlier while they were waiting in the car for Peter to come out of the school, he had a plan. Upon asked if it was a good plan, Clint had laughed and said ‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves’. But his plan turned out to be a good one after all. His plan depended on whether or not Peter was good with people. They could ‘seduce’ the scientist, bring him to the cabin, and calmly introduce him to the friendly creatures from another planet. They would do Toothless first, because Dawntwister just was a little rougher and came across as more aggressive and scary (while he was actually a sweet puppy).

And because Peter was good with people, the plan could really work. He was still nervous to be around these great heroes, and tripped over his words a lot when he spoke to them, but conversations were easily made. While Tony and Hiccup drove back to the cabin, Peter had started a conversation with the doctor in his lab. It went something like this:

"I’m a really big fan of you, Doctor Banner!"

"Oh, thanks kid. You like the Hulk?"

"What? Oh! Yeah, he’s really cool, but I’m a fan of _you_ , Doctor Banner! You’re the most renowned scientist of the generation! Your picture is in my school!!"

There was a slight croak in Bruce’s voice when he answered, "Oh… thank you. I- I appreciate that."

Peter then continued talking about whatever, moving to his Spider-Man powers and his web-shooters. He talked about how he made the solution, and how he got it so strong, and that it dissolved in a few hours. They also talked about how Peter could stick to the ceiling with his bare hands and feet, and more.

Then, somehow, Peter had convinced Bruce to come and help him with his science project, which he had left in Tony’s cabin, conveniently. Bruce magically agreed, and they asked Clint, who was conveniently free, for a ride.

"So, kid," Bruce asked, when they pulled up by the cabin, "What is this all about? What kind of science project?"

Peter stepped out of the car, and so did the doctor. To Bruce’s surprise, Clint stepped out too and walked at the door, taking a key from his pocket and opening the door. Bruce thought Clint would leave after dropping them off, what was happening? Had he forgotten something in the cabin or was he supervising them…?

"Well, uh, you see, mister, doctor Banner, there is something we need to show you," Peter answered, fiddling with the knuckles of his hand.

"Who’s we?"

From the cabin came Tony and Natasha, Bruce’s eyes widened a little at the sight. He was beginning to feel uncomfortable, as there clearly was something going on he was not informed of. Almost half of the team was here, Natasha, Tony, Clint, Peter, and he too. Then, a second girl walked out of the cabin, she was wearing the most odd outfit Bruce had ever seen, and he had been to a lot of countries and seen a lot of outfits.

She was wearing a snug, leather outfit, with metal plates at some places, like body armor. And she had a metal leg. But not just any metal leg, this thing was a construction Bruce blinked confusedly at. The team lined up on the porch, all looking slightly nervous.

"Alright, Bruce, I know you’re probably freaking out, but don’t worry. Nothing bad is going to happen. We just want to show you something and explain it. If you want to leave, you can take the car, Clint left the keys in," Tony said.

Bruce glanced shortly at the car behind him. His teammates kept a reasonable distance from him, the new girl stood away the furthest. The keys were left in the engine indeed, but why? Did they think he was going to make a run for it? He could, easily. He could also Hulk out and destroy everything, which he was most afraid of. He did neither, he stood still and pushed his glasses higher up his nose. He shrugged a little.

"Alright, what do you want to show me?"

Natasha stepped forward a little, "We want you to know that if we didn’t think it was safe or responsible, we would not have let you come here, okay?"

He nodded slowly. Though there was an underlying tone of suspense creeping up at him, he could not deny the curiosity grew. This was his team, his new family, they would not put him in unnecessary harm, or do terrible things to him. He trusted them, and they wanted to show him something that clearly made them feel uncomfortable with themselves. He wanted to know what it was.

"Okay, just show me. What is it?"

Now it was the new girl who stepped forward, she laid a hand on her chest, "My name is Hiccup Haddock, I come from Berk. It’s an island on the planet of Ljósfold."

There was a sharp gasp, she held her hands up, stopping Bruce from spewing a rain of questions and confused thoughts at her. She was from Ljósfold? That other planet? The planet of the dragons? How? When? Why? She looked exactly like a human being, was she human? Thor said that on Ljósfold the Vikings lived, was she a Viking? Had she seen dragons? Did she know how to defeat them?

"I know you have questions," she continued, "But first I must introduce you to my best friend. He’s not dangerous, even though he looks like it. He’s friendly, okay?"

Bruce nodded.

She brought her hand up to her face, putting two fingers in her mouth to create a high-pitched whistle. A silence fell after, and while Bruce felt even more confused to what they were waiting on, the others seemed to know exactly what was happening, what was going to come. A little information would be nice, so that he at least knew what to expect.

But then again, when he saw a large shadow cast across the field of grass, and a jet black creature dropped down on all fours from the air, trotting up to the girl to affectionately rub its head against her hip, he did kind of understand why they did not tell him upfront.

"A dragon," Bruce said, watching the black animal circle around Hiccup, shifting its gaze at him instead. He didn’t even feel small or afraid under the stare. It was not one of hunger or death, it was an ancient look, the farthest thing from human, yet so similar to a look a good friend would give you. "So, they are not bloodthirsty creatures from hell?"

"Do you need to sit down?" Clint asked, carefully.

"Or a drink?" Tony asked.

Bruce shook his head, taking a few steps closer to the dragon. The animal had eyes greener than damp moss, its had two large wings and a long tail, it had appendages on its head that it could apparently move, as it perked them up. Could be ears, Bruce thought. The dragon lifted its nose into the air, sniffling a few times before it stalked closer.

Its back was raised a little, head lower to the ground. He had seen that kind of behavior before, in dogs and in cats. Especially cats. "He is your friend?"

Hiccup nodded, "Yes. My best friend. And he’s not dangerous."

The dragon circled around him, keeping its distance. A low rumbling that sounded almost like a purr came from deep inside its chest, its green eyes never losing sight of the doctor. The treatment was returned, Bruce turned along with the dragon, watching it walk with smooth movements, careful steps, tail swishing back and forth.

Almost as if on instinct, Bruce held out his hand towards the dragon. Green eyes flicked from his hand to his face, and the dragon rumbled again, stalking closer. A gasp of disbelief left Bruce’s lips as soon as the dragon pressed its nose against the palm of his hand, eyes closing for a moment before they reopened once more. It was unbelievable, not only were dragons kind creatures that could be reasoned with, Bruce was touching one of the most dangerous ones right now! The others watched in awe, Hiccup smiling widely.

"You don’t seem scared, angry or surprised. How are you taking this so well?" Tony asked then.

There was another shrug. Bruce trailed his fingers across the beautifully set, pitch black scales of the dragon before him. The eyes closed a bit, a low purr coming from deep inside his throat. "You all seem to be okay with it, and I trust you."

He looked up at them, one hand set still on the dragon’s broad head, fingers skimming the reptilian skin lightly. "Does Steve know about this?"

"No," Natasha answered, "We’re planning on telling him only when we have a large part of the team on our side. The plan is to pick them off one by one and show them dragons are not what we thought they were."

There was a brief silence in which Bruce watched the Night Fury circle closely around him, nuzzling his hip with its nose before it trotted towards Hiccup. It was then that Bruce noticed the saddle on its back, brown leather straps going underneath its belly with metal constructions leading down to the tail.

"What’s the saddle for?" Bruce asked, watching the construction curiously.

"It’s for me to ride them," Hiccup answered, "I help him steer the prosthetic tailfin so he can fly."

"Uhuh, so it was not only him but also you who attacked the team in the forest."

Hiccup winced slightly, "Yes, it was. I thought you were challenging us. And when Toothless was shot with an arrow in his paw… we really regret it, we weren’t thinking straight. Or at least, I wasn’t."

The dragon looked up at her, churring shortly before letting out a low whine. She stroked its head, sending him a smile back. Bruce could not help but rethink what she just said, she said, Toothless.

"Toothless?" he repeated.

"It’s his name."

Not the name Bruce would have picked for a giant, fire breathing creature that could fly and was not supposed to exist, but whatever, it was her dragon, her friend. Was it meant ironically? Like that he had a whole mouth filled with teeth and then she called him Toothless because it sounded funny to her? She was called Hiccup, he did not think that name suited her either.

He walked up at the porch, stepping onto it to face the rest of his team. "So, now what?"

Tony took a deep breath, "Now we try to convince the next person on our list, Loki."

  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bruce knows! And he's not upset!! Yaayyy!! I hope you enjoyed, see you next chapter!


	29. We Failed The Plan, Part 1

_It was the day after Bruce had met Toothless. Peter was off to school, Natasha was playing with Toothless, and Clint was back to the compound with Bruce. They could not all stay behind, because then Steve would get suspicious to where they all were all day when it wasn’t at the compound. Hiccup and Tony were talking over their plan._

_"So, who’s up next?" Hiccup questioned._

_"Loki," Tony answered, "I will go talk with him and get him to come here. I can’t be that difficult, he trusts me, so I think I –"_

_Beep, beep, beep, beep._

_Hiccup frowned, "What’s that?"_

_Tony pulled his phone out of his pocket, making a few swiping gestures at the screen. He looked back up at Hiccup, eyes earnest, "A dragon. One of my radars has picked up on a dragon deep in the woods."_

_"We have to go get it then before it gets hurt. I’m sure Loki can wait a little longer."_

_The mechanic was in the middle of a nod, but then he paled, eyes growing wider. "Shit," he cursed, sucking in a deep breath and wiping his face with his hand._

_"What is it?"_

_Tony slowly shook his head, "I wanted to have part of the team gone so I could get to Loki more easily."_

_"And?"_

_"And I did so by saying there was a group of HYDRA agents in that exact forest the dragon is in now. Shit! What if they find the dragon? What if they hurt it?"_

_"Not if I get to it first," Hiccup said, grabbing her satchel._

* * *

 

There was no sign of any HYDRA agent to be found, no footsteps, no campfires, not a single voice to be heard or single person to be seen. He was strolling around deep in the large forest, so he doubted there would be any hikers to meet. It could be possible, but you could not get here in a day without any form of transportation, it was just too far to walk unless you did it in two or three days. So, unless they had walked more than a day and were camping, or they had come here with a car or chopper, he doubted he would bump into any strangers.

He both hoped the others of his team did and did not find anything. If they did find something it would mean this whole mission was not for naught, but if they didn’t find anything that would mean the forest was safe. Well, Tony had said there were HYDRA agents, they had shown up on the bad-guy radar or whatever program Tony had used, Steve found it hard to keep up with all the new tech. Unfortunately, Iron Man himself could not come, he said he was busy with something else. But that was okay, Steve said he could handle it.

Clint could come though, and Thor could too, and Rhodey. Not Bucky, he refused to go into forests solely because dragons could be hiding there. He loved to beat up some HYDRA idiots, but not in a forest with fire breathing creatures. He passed on that. They had split up so they could cover more ground. The signal was bad, so they could not use their usual earpieces. Tony had given their phones an upgrade so they had better reception or something like that, so they would just have to call or message each other.

He had been walking for about two hours, and found exactly nothing. No HYDRA, no hikers, no enemies, nothing.

Was it wrong to long for some action? Steve felt like it was wrong. The dragons had been quiet, the HYDRA agents had been quiet, the New Party acted as though they gave up completely and were wiped off the face of the Earth, and Steve was left a little bored. After those New Party aliens had attacked Clint and nearly killed them, they were hanging low, not a sign of them to be found.

They were still out there, no doubt about that, but they were more quiet than before, more careful. They were good, they were really good. Whatever they were trading, it was valuable or they would not grow this fast. But if they were aliens, how did they expand their organization? Get more aliens from space? However they did it, Steve wanted to catch and defeat them, they had dealt with many aliens before, surely this could not be that difficult.

The whole thing with the New Parties and stuff was all so complicated and difficult, he would look further into it when he was back at the–

The wind was knocked from his lungs when someone bumped into him at nearly full speed. He stumbled back a little, grabbing for his gun and shield until he saw who it was. Well, he did not know _who_ it was, but he did see it was just a girl (not that girls were any less dangerous than men, in fact, they were almost twice as dangerous because you just did not expect them to beat you up). She was not holding any weapons, which soothed Steve’s nerves a bit. She did seem a bit out of breath.

"I’m so sorry," she panted, casting a quick look over her shoulder. Her brown hair was tied in a single braid and it moved along with the turning of her head.

"Who are you?" Steve asked, confused to why this girl was all alone, deep in the forest.

The girl turned a little pale, stammering some words Steve did not quite get before she blurted out, "Hiking."

It was not an answer to his question, but it _was_ an answer to the question he was meaning to ask next, ‘what are you doing here?’. Her outfit did look somewhat like it was meant for hiking. It looked incredibly odd and unlike anything Steve had ever seen before, but he guessed it would suffice just fine. There was a lot of leather, and some metal plates, her pants looked sturdy and her boots… boot. She only had one foot. At the place of her other was a metal construction. A metal leg.

"You shouldn’t be out here on your own, ma’am, it could be dangerous," Steve said then, tearing his eyes away from her missing leg.

She awkwardly rubbed the nape of her neck, "Yeah, I know, but I- uh, I was- I’m not alone. My… dog is here somewhere. Yes, my dog. I’m looking for him and then we go home."

"Do you need help finding the way back?"

In a few steps she had walked passed him, shaking her head. "No, that’s okay, I’m fine. Thank you anyway. See you!"

Steve watched her walk away with hurried steps, disappearing between all the green and brown of the forest. _Strange_ , he thought. For a moment he pondered whether or not to go after her, there could be dragons in this forest, and he would never forgive himself if she turned up missing or dead because he did not walk her home. It would be no problem for him, there wasn’t anything interesting to be found here anyway.

So, he fastened his pace as he jogged after her, trying to catch up quickly. He looked left, and he looked right, but did not catch a glimpse of her. She could not have gone far, could she? He picked up his pace from jogging to running, dodging large, overhanging branches and watching his feet so he did not stumble over tree roots.

"Ma’am? Are you there?" he called out. No answer.

There came a low growl to his left, and Steve stopped in his tracks. He turned, watching the thicket with slightly narrowed eyes, "Ma’am?"

His eyes widened, his senses screamed, and before he had even registered the threat he had thrown himself to his stomach and pressed himself to the ground to seek for cover. Something blew over his head, and a moment later he heard a tree creak dangerously. He looked up, seeing something fall towards him. He rolled to the side, just barely dodging the plummeting tree. His jaw nearly dropped to the floor when he saw the red-and-yellow liquid at the base of the trunk; that looked like lava!

The bushes rustled, and something jumped into view. It was big, it was round, and it was purple. It had a bludgeon-like tail and a thick hide. It barely had a neck and its mouth were filled with gigantic, sharp teeth. A low cry escaped Steve’s lips as he backed down, hands clenching around the edges of his shield. The dragon roared at him, flapping its unusually small wings. It darted to the side, snatching a rock from the forest floor and crunching it between its teeth.

Steve could raise his shield just in time to block the white-hot stuff that beast was spewing at him. Lava. It was firing lava. That was just great, no fire or deadly spines this time, just lava. The beast, that _had_ to be a dragon, roared again, and charged. Steve jumped to the side, making a somersault to get back up to his feet immediately after, and he ran. He was usually not a runner, he was a fighter, but he was not going up against a dragon he had absolutely zero knowledge of. That would not be brave in any way, that would be incredibly stupid.

A low growl spun up at him from behind, and he made a sharp turn to the left, just barely escaping another blast of lava. God, he hoped the creature would not cause a forest fire, that would be more than awful. He was stumbling blindly through the skeleton hands of the trees, which pulled at his clothes, telling him to slow down and stay with them.

There was no clear path, nothing to lead him through his dense forest with the night dawning upon him. It would not be long before the night would fall and the trees would become dark shapes against a darker night. Stars would blink upon him, only the moon left to guide his way. His vision was slightly better than normal people’s in the dark, but that did not mean he had night vision. He had no idea if the dragon did, so he kept running.

It was just his luck; he was walking around a forest to find HYDRA scumbags, but all he found was a purple dragon that shot lava at him. Why could it not just be a crazy person with a gun, why did it have to be a dragon with gigantic teeth that shot lava blasts at his head? What was he supposed to do with that? Fight it? How? He did not know anything about dragons, only that they were big and angry.

He heard the quickening thuds of paws as it began to approach him, angry growls following. He heard his heart thumping in his head and he pushed forward, continued to run, run, run and keep on running until he would either find his teammates or a safe place to hide. The sound of his own feet crunching leaves and twigs reached his ears, and the rapid heartbeats pounding in his throat. He begged his feet to go faster.

Pushing branches and leaves out of the way of his face, he looked ahead of her, his shoulders slumping as he only saw more trees, not even a path. But he kept on running, running like the wind, knowing one little mistake could mean the end.

Cover, he needed to find cover. His gaze shot around until he found something. It seemed like some sort of… cave? Whatever it was, it seemed like a good place to hide for a moment. There was small path leading down between large rocks, he didn’t think the dragon could come there. He could hide down there until it had left. It was worth a shot. He raced towards it.

Not watching that one step, he tripped over a tangled mossy root and the earthly ground rushed up to his face as he thudded to the ground. The ground was sloping, a small hill, so he rolled down, there were rocks, he tried grabbing something to hold on to. In his roll he managed to get to his feet, the ground was slippery, he stumbled further, low hanging branches ahead. He tried to reach for one of them, missed, and whacked his head against it at full speed instead.

He rolled further across the ground until he had reached the end, smelling the vague scent of rotting leaves and grass before all his senses failed him.

 

* * *

 

Steve drifted into consciousness, but did not open his eyes, yet, it was if they were glued close. He felt nauseous and out of breath. What happened?

Wary to potential dragons that could still be out there, Steve chose to not open his eyes just yet, in case he had to play dead if there was a predator nearby. He did carefully stretch his hand out, feeling something a bit prickly, like grass. Well, he was in a forest after all. He lay there for a few minutes, trying to imagine what his surroundings looked like, put a picture of where he could be together. He tried to figure out if there was anyone with him. An enemy or anything. He listened carefully, but everything around him sounded dull and far away. A concussion? Great. How had he managed to hit his head _that_ hard?

He remembered walking through the woods, then something chased him. Something big and scary. He ran as fast as he could, avoided getting shot. Then he… tripped… and… uh… fell? Yeah. He tripped and fell. He remembered rolling down on the hard ground, then falling into a- a hole, or a den… a ditch? He could not remember.

The last thing in his memory was a loud growl, something, something, then he was running, running through the forest and he tripped. He must have hit his head pretty hard because he didn’t remember blacking out. He remembered the fall, rolling down a sloping hill, and then he woke up here.

He opened his eyes widely. A streak of light fell into his eyes and he closed them immediately again. Oh God, light, too much light. As he opened his eyes again, he saw a soft blue sky slowly turning brighter. The sun was coming up. He lay there, not moving a muscle, his eyes wide open, staring at the sky. Birds tweeted their cheery melodies, and a soft breeze played with the leaves and branches of the trees.

What happened exactly? He needed to put his thoughts back together. The memories drifted through his mind like driftwood on the ocean and he had to close his eyes for a few seconds. They were on another one of those HYDRA missions. Him, Thor and Rhodey. They were in the forest, then they split up. He bumped into this… girl? Yeah, she was a girl.

She was wearing these odd, _odd_ clothes and Steve thought that one of her legs was made of metal, but that could be just the concussion talking. They had spoken for a bit but she left quickly after. Saying something about… finding her dog and getting home. She had been hiking, but Steve found that strange as she was all on her own and deep, _deep_ into the forest.

Steve tried to go after her, warn her that the woods were not safe and walk her home, but then… the thing. A rumbling sound had approached them, and then there was a blast. The dragon. Yes, it was a dragon. It came from the bush where it was hidden; big, round and purple, with a bludgeon-like tail and a thick hide. It barely had a neck and its mouth were filled with gigantic, sharp teeth. It ate a rock from the ground and then spewed frigging _lava_ at Steve’s head.

It attacked him, Steve ran, he found a… a cove! Yes, he found a cove where the dragon couldn’t enter, he wanted to hide himself but in his way there he hit his head against something. Yes. That was it. He had hit his head hard and passed out. That would explain the throbbing headache. And why he was here.

But where was here?

Steve came up a bit and reached for his head. He grabbed a handful of his own hair and groaned softly. He didn’t appear to be wounded apart from the small gash in his head where he had hit it against a… branch? Rock? He didn’t know. He could still move everything so nothing was broken, but why was he still alive? The dragon obviously hadn’t followed him in here as he didn’t see it right now, and it hadn’t eaten him either. He was unharmed, just lying… wherever he was right now.

He looked around and cocked his head to the side a bit. He appeared to be in some sort of cove. There were large, stone walls surrounding a somewhat large area with grass, and a few bushes. It was silent and peaceful and Steve would have enjoyed it if he had been brought here under different circumstances.

He was lying nearly in the middle of the cove, far away from the entrance. How had he end up all the way over here? Had he stumbled a few more steps before collapsing? What?

Coming to his feet he patted down his pockets for his weapons and phone. They were gone. His knives and gun were gone just like his phone. Great. How was that even possible? He was sure he had packed them on the way here, and they were secured well, they couldn’t just have fallen out. He took a wobbly step, his legs shaking, but he managed to keep himself up.

His gaze moved around the cove and he took another few steps backwards. He turned circles as he kept stepping backwards, trying to scan every corner of the cove around him. What if that round, purple beast was still around? What if it had found him? The beast could be hiding anywhere, ready to strike. Maybe it was getting his friends, to share this delicious meal with them. Or its babies. Maybe it didn’t know Steve had fallen into this cove so it thought he was gone. He hoped for the latter.

He stood with his back to a few rocks when he heard a deep rumble from behind him. The hairs on his arms stood up and he froze in his steps, a thrill of danger sneaking up on him and sending a shiver down his spine. Again there was a low rumble and Steve turned around. The sight before him was daunting, something he had wished never to see.

A big, black animal, unlike anything he had ever seen before, was standing on a high rock, wings spread slightly and eyes pointed directly at him. It wasn’t that purple dragon that had attacked him just before he got into the cove. This one did not even look like it.

He gasped and took a frightened step back. Humans he could deal with, HYDRA agents he could deal with, aliens he could also deal with. But this? It freaked the hell out of him. The dragon was medium-sized with a sleek, dark body with black scales. It had two pairs of wings with a shape similar to a bat and two mobile, ear-like appendages on the back of its head. It had green, cat-like eyes.

The black dragon climbed down the rocks like a cat with its head first, but never lost Steve out of its sight. It pointed its nose in the air as it circled a bit around him, sniffing the air. Steve bend his knees a bit, ready to bolt it, the fingers of his hand flexed nervously. The dragon stayed low to the ground and let out a small growl.

Steve stayed as still as the rocks around him, hoping the dragon would lose interest and go away. He didn’t know whether to go and scare the dragon or stay still. He had heard that with some types of animals you had to make yourself big and yell to show it you are stronger than it, but other types would see that as a challenge and an invitation to fight. Not that he would ever be able to scare this beast away, it was huge!

The dragon snarled at him, it was angry. Why was it angry? Maybe it lived here, maybe it had claimed this place as its own and wasn’t happy with him invading. It could be anything. Steve slid his hand along the pockets of his pants slowly, trying to find a knife. He must have one, he had always at least one knife with him, he couldn’t have lost it all!

A small breath left his mouth when he felt the familiar shape of a blade. The dragon stood a few meters away from him, but it was still intimidating. It growled again. Steve wanted to pull the knife but it didn’t seem like the best move right now.

What if it was… a Night Fury?

It was big and black, and it looked extremely dangerous. God, if it _was_ a Night Fury then he was so screwed.

The dragon sniffed the air again and came closer. Steve stumbled back a few steps as it approached. It cocked its head and tried sniffing Steve’s suit but the man stumbled back even faster, trying to gain ground between him and the beast. "Uh, uh, no, no, no."

But the dragon didn’t listen and kept coming closer, causing Steve to back off more. Then he took a step to fast; one of his feet hooked behind the other and he fell backwards. He caught himself by stretching his hands out behind him. As his behind hit the ground he a sharp throb of headache flashed through his head. Darn head wound.

He continued to push himself backwards as the dragon just _kept_ walking at him. He stopped when he felt the cold surface of a stone push against his back. He was trapped. Behind him there was a rock and before him was the dragon.

"I-I don't have anything," Steve said, "Please don’t eat me."

Using his feet he pushed himself as hard against the rock as he could, trying to keep the distance between him and the dragon’s head as big as possible. The dragon’s eyes rolled back into its head a bit and he started making these weird noises, almost sucking-like. It gagged two times, its mouth opened and what seemed to be a half-digested fish tail rolled from its tongue into Steve’s lap. Saliva dripped down the man’s sides and he nearly threw up himself. What the fuck was this?

The dragon now did take a step back though and sat down before him, patiently waiting for something. Steve sat up a bit more. The dragon stared at him, he stared back. Nothing happened. He just sat there with a gross fish in his lap and a dragon sitting before him staring at him, getting uncomfortable.

The dragon looked down at the fish and back up at Steve. The Captain froze. Please God no. That thing could not seriously expect him to eat half-digested fish, did it? One glance at the dragon and he knew it did. _C’mon Steve, just do it, it can’t be that bad._ Steve sighed deeply, and slowly brought the fish up to his mouth. The scent of rotten fish hit him in his face like a truck, and he almost retched. It really was _that_ bad. He took a bite but did not swallow it.

The gross feeling of hard scales and half-rotten weak fish was to be honest one of the most gross things he has ever had in his mouth. The structure, the smell, the taste… everything was horrible. He held the fish out to the dragon. He would just give it back and when the dragon didn’t look spit out the fish he had in his mouth, simple as that.

Except that it wasn’t that simple. The dragon kept staring and then nodded at him, as if to say ‘swallow that damn fish’. Steve moaned and laid the fish tail down on the ground. Then, against all he believed in, he started forcing the fish down his throat. His stomach immediately did not agree, and it came back up in his throat to his mouth, in a reflex he swallowed it again.

When the fish was making its way down to his stomach Steve shuddered and made little noises of disgust. The dragon’s tongue shot out its mouth to lick its lips and a low, satisfied grumble came from it. Steve swallowed and pressed himself further against the stone. The dragon moved closer with its head again and sniffed, its nose moving up and down slightly. In a reflex Steve held out his arm to stop it from coming any closer.

The dragon hummed and cocked its head while it stared at his arm. It sniffed his fingers and let out a soft whine. Steve didn’t dare moving his arm away anymore. Sudden moves would set wild animals off, and he did _not_ want to set this thing off. The dragon sniffed along his arm, sitting on his hind legs. One of its paws came up a little, Steve gaze snapped towards it.

He looked at it and his eyes widened when he saw the wound. A narrow, white scar decorated the dragon’s paw, and he recognized the shape and size. Steve’s lips parted slightly and he swallowed thickly. It was an arrow wound. Did Clint do that? Was it Clint’s arrow?

A small whine came from the dragon as it moved forward a bit. Steve felt discomfort crawling his skin. He extended his arm towards the dragon’s paw but as he almost touched it the dragon pulled its paw back and snarled. Steve quickly pushed himself back, away from the dragon. Okay, touching the dragon was a bad idea. 

He then slowly started pushing himself up, with his back against the stone, ignoring the slight headache that was coming up again. The dragon followed his movements, but didn’t do anything but stare. Now they’ve had this ‘bonding moment’ or whatever, Steve thought it was time to leave.

He took a few steps away from the dragon, it just watched. Another two steps, nothing happened. Slowly but steady, he was making his way to the only exit in the cove, a narrow path between the rock walls, too small for that dragon to fit through. Though it would just fly if it wanted out but at least it couldn’t get to him when he was there.

The dragon followed him from a distance when he made his way to the crack in the cove. It left out a soft, neutral growl, staring at Steve with these big, green eyes. Steve ignored the animal and continued walking away. Suddenly the jet black thing launched itself forward, rushed past Steve and stopped before him. The Captain reacted spooked when the dragon raised itself on its hind legs, spreading its wings out and roaring at him.

He didn’t want Steve to leave, why didn’t he want Steve to leave?

No, not he, _it_. Why didn’t _it_ want Steve to leave?

As Steve walked back to his original spot again the dragon turned to the crack in the cove. It looked from the crack to Steve and back. Then it jumped up to the rocks it had been sitting on before, purring slightly and pawing the rock like a cat, trying to get comfortable on a hard surface. Steve did not quite get why it did not just lay down on the ground, but it did not bother him that much. What did bother him was that he had lost his phone, weapons and his shield. The dragon could have taken his shield, that was not even that strange of a theory, it was just that his phone had been secured in his pocket, and so had his gun. 

A minute or so passed, and Steve counted his breaths. His eyes were pointed straight at the dragon, never letting it get out of his sight. When the dragon settled down on the large rock, its head turned away from Steve, he saw his opportunity. A few steps side-wards. Nothing. A few more steps. Still no reaction. The dragon did not seem to notice him. This was his chance. He sprinted at the crack and he actually managed to get through before the dragon noticed he was making a run for it.

When he was back into the normal forest, away from the path leading to the cove, there was nothing but sweet, sweet relief. He was safe.

Guns cocked.

Steve froze in his steps, his eyes widening. Several people were emerging from their hiding place. All dressed in full body armor. His eyes shot around, at least a dozen men had their guns aimed at him. His back was towards the cove that was hidden behind rocks amid the thickets of bushes and trees. In the cove was the dragon, before him there were armed men. Oh god, _seriously_?!

"Hiya, Cap," a scary familiar voice said.

He whirled around, just catching sight of ex-SHIELD agent Brock Rumlow, whose face was horribly burned, before the now HYDRA agent raised a gauntlet-clad hand, and punched him square in the stomach. The force sent Steve backwards quite a bit, making him fall on his back, gasping for air as black spots danced in his vision. That punch had been harder than any human had ever hit him. What the hell kind of super-gauntlet was that?!

A half-amused thought came up on his head; at least he had found the HYDRA agents, though that brought him no joy as he saw them gather around him. He was trapped, guns aimed at his face. He was on the ground, if he moved, they would fill him with bullets. This was just _great_ , just what he wanted. One moment, there was no action at all, and the next there was too much.

"I thought this would be a little less easy," Rumlow laughed, strolling closer. He was wearing a specialized body armor alongside a standard tactical combat suit. It had two white stripes painted on his chest that were crossing at the center.

The HYDRA agent looked behind him shortly, eyes lingering at the path towards the cove, "What were you doing in there anyway?"

Steve did not answer, he kept still, gaze gliding from man to man, trying to find weak spots and a way out. He did not have his gun, somehow lost his shield and his phone, he only had a single knife that would not help him out in any way. He was practically defenseless. Rumlow grinned widely at him, unease crawled Steve’s skin. He risked sitting up, if they hadn’t killed him so far they were not going to do so when he just sat up.

"You’re gonna pay for what you did," Rumlow said, not even waiting for an answer on his previous question. For a brief moment, Steve wondered what he meant with that. Then Rumlow aimed a blow at his face, forcing Steve back to the ground. When he tried coming up Rumlow kicked him in the stomach to stop him. Just because he was a super soldier, did not mean it didn’t hurt, because it did. It hurt.

"That’s for the elevator," Rumlow spat out, then kicking Steve square in the face. Steve yelped, reaching for his nose, it was bleeding.

Rumlow just wanted to punch again, when Steve’s yelp was answered with a growl, coming from between the rock formation that led the cove. There was a frown on both men’s faces. Rumlow looked up to see...

A dragon. The Night Fury jumped up from behind the rocks, pouncing towards them on full speed, snarling.

"What the hell?!" Rumlow called out.

Before the man closest by had a change to pull and aim his weapon, the dragon leaped onto him, crushing him to the ground. It flared its wings widely, letting out an ear-piercing scream, mouth wide open, teeth on full display. One of the men dropped his weapon and ran. The others stood still as statues, until the Night Fury attacked.

The agents scrambled around, the Night Fury pursued, snapping and springing from ground to tree and onto them. A purple blast narrowly avoided Steve as he dashed around as well, evading the panicked enemies and the dragon at the same time.

Desperate, the agents tried to reach for a weapon in an attempt to arm themselves, but a few blasts later and it was destroyed. The Fury tore through the small area near the cove, bounding like a panther and taking to the air in short bursts, picking off the people running around one by one.

It tossed them around like rag dolls, hissing and growling, moving like a shadow of death.

Rumlow raised his gauntlet, trying to hit the dragon but it ducked and fired one of its shots at him. Rumlow was thrown back, disappearing in the dense thicket. One of the dragon’s blasts missed an enemy, and hit the ground, turning the mossy floor to a red-hot temperature.

It all happened too fast, Steve had barely even time to look for cover or grab a weapon, or even get a grip on what was happening, before it was over. The men that had just surrounded him with their guns and weapons, now lay scattered across the ground. Some were unconscious, others were… dead. It had killed some of the men.

The dragon did not seem the least bothered by that, it licked its muzzle, letting out another roar before it set a few steps back, shaking its head and flapping its wings a few times.

The dragon had not attacked him, not even once, not even left a nick on his skin. Steve wondered why, but at the same time he could not care less. He swallowed thickly and backed away, a branch snapped underneath his foot. The dragon looked up. Steve backed down so fast he accidentally tripped over his own feet and fell to the floor with a low cry. He scrambled up again.

The dragon seemed spooked by his sudden movement and his yelling, so it growled. Then it ran at him, coming closer at an alarming rate. Steve raised the small knife and tried to stab, but the dragon was faster. In a blur, it was upon him, pinning Steve down, grazing his neck, murder in its eyes. The knife fell from his hand and it was sent skidding across the grass floor. He couldn’t breathe when he hit the ground underneath him, the dragon had knocked the air out of his lungs.

Steve was paralyzed. The dragon’s breath ruffled his hair. He opened his eyes to find its wolf-like stare boring into him. For a few seconds, he looked right into the eyes of the beast. A set of poison green eyes with slits for pupils. Two nostrils were trembling slightly on the front of the muzzle. He could count the scales on the dragon’s head, he was that close to it.

Two wings flared out, one at either side of the dragon, his stomach dropped. It was going to kill him. It had found him and now it was going to kill him. His gaze snapped back to the green eyes.

The exchange was intense, the dragon big and wild, Steve smaller and tame. Steve breathed fast and shallow, his chest raising and falling in a second. Perhaps this had not been such a brilliant idea after all. He tried reaching for the knife but he couldn’t. The dragon pressed its paw on his chest, its claws coming dangerously close to his neck and chin.

He stretched his arm out for the blade, trying to grab it. He stretched himself out as far as he could, but that wasn’t easy with a dragon on top of him. The beast looked down at him with these big, green eyes with the black slits for pupils.

The dragon opened its mouth, and Steve saw teeth. At first a green gas gathered in the back of the dragon’s throat, then a purple glow started to burn through. It was going to shoot. It was going to fire. This was it. He had fought hundreds of aliens but was going to die at the hands of a mythical creature.

The dragon drew a deep breath, raising its head and chest up, as though it was about to torch him alive. Steve tried to push himself back as far away from the dragon as he was possible, turning his head away and cowering.

He braced himself, this was it.

"TOOTHLESS NO!"

   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I oop-


	30. Beware The Teeth

A normal day.

Just _one_ normal day.

Was that too much to ask?

He was running, out of breath and terrified. Stumbling blindly through the skeleton hands of the trees. Every noise he heard made his head whip around, afraid of what might jump out those bushes, and with every stumble, his arm roared with pain as he felt hot, sticky blood running down his elbow. With every pound of his foot, colliding with the soft soil, his arm twisted up and down, making it hurt more.

His arm was burning by the teeth that had pierced through his skin like it was nothing. His body screamed to stop, to rest, but he pushed forward and continued to run. Run, and keep on running towards his destination.

_Why?_

Why did something like this always happen to him?

He was just out in the forest, just making a little walk through nature, smelling a flower here and there, perhaps picking some blueberries if he found any. You know, the usual thing boys did when they have some time off. So, he found this really great bush of blueberries and he was just picking them to eat a snack, when the bush moved. He stepped back, not really scared but more like to give whatever animal was hiding in the bush the space to go away. It was probably just a badger or something. Perhaps a rabbit or squirrel. But no, of course it wasn’t one of those.

Why couldn’t it ever be a buddy bunny or a sweet squirrel? Why did it always have to be something dangerous? Did he attract danger? Was he a danger magnet of some sort? So, when he stepped closer the animal hiding in the bushes came out. Even a lion, tiger or alligator would have been better.

It had a long, serpentine body, a small head and four legs. It had three main sets of horns on its head, complemented by more along its neck and back. In addition, it had a long nasal horn and a distinct under-bite with small rows of pointy teeth, giving it a rather a sinister appearance. Covered with prominent, iridescent purple scales, it had a paler underbelly but more vibrant coloration on its back and wings.

He had backed away immediately, almost tripping over his feet. The dragon had looked up at him and roared. As he walked back more it dropped its jaw and shot something at him. It wasn’t a fireball, but many pointy teeth. He could just jump out of the way to dodge them, but the next time the thing did its little trick he got hit in his right arm. Fucking dragons! First that Night Fury, then the Whispering Death, and now this little bastard. He had to get out of there, fast.

And so he ran.

And that was how he ended up running through the woods.

_I need to warn the others_ , he thought, and he gave that extra little push. Twigs snapped beneath his feet and at every breaking branch he was afraid that it wasn’t _his_ feet breaking them.

His breath was short and fast, stinging in his throat. He needed to catch his breath soon, or he wouldn’t make it. He pushed away some branches and leaves away from his face. Then he stopped, leaning forward with his hands on his knees to catch his painful breath. As he heard the growling behind him, he started running again.

Why were those dragons here? What were they doing here? They weren’t supposed to be here. They were supposed to be on that Ljusfield or something, whatever that stupid Realm was called, he kept forgetting. Loki and Thor said that if you left the dragons alone, they would leave you alone too. Most of them anyway. So why did they keep bumping into dragons that didn’t?! Why couldn’t they not bump into dragons at all?!

He heard a snarl and a shadow moved over his head. The nasty dragon with the many teeth landed before him, wings flared and mouth wide open. He could see its yellow eyes perfectly now. How wonderful. It spewed its many sharp teeth again, they missed him with an inch. _Too close_. It roared angrily. Why was it angry? Was it hungry? Could explain the blueberry bush.

"Go catch a fish!" he yelled at the dragon, waving his arms. It took a small step back, but then narrowed its eyes and shot again.

That was his sign to start running the other way. "GUYS!" he yelled, hoping anyone could hear him.

Hopefully, he had not gone too far away from the compound, and someone would hear him. He didn’t want to die out here. Not by the claws of such a nasty dragon. It wasn’t even that big, he was bigger. That thing was about the size of a lion or tiger, unlike the giant Whispering Death in their backyard. Only this thing had claws, wings and could _shoot_ its teeth. God, this was not how he imagined he’d die. He had imagined diverse ways of dying a lot of times, but this was definitely not one of them; being devoured by a wild dragon.

He fastened his pace and pushed through bushes and low hanging branches. He had to be somewhere by now. The roaring behind him didn’t die away, it only became louder. He almost stumbled over a tree root (was he going up a hill or something? The ground seemed to become steeper) but just managed to catch his footing and pick up a rock from the ground in the process. He threw it behind him, praying it would hit that annoying thing. It didn’t.

"GUYS! HEY!" he yelled.

He stamped through the vegetation and practically jumped from the bushes. There was only one problem. After the bushes was nothing. _Nothing_. N O T H I N G. His feet tried stepping onto air and his arms grasped at the sky. Great. A cliff. Of course. Because WHY THE HELL NOT?! He let out a scream as he plummeted down at the hard ground below. The dragon roared at him but like he had time for that. He was more occupied with falling to his death right now.

Just as he closed his eyes and waited for the fatal landing, he heard a zooming sound and was snatched out of the air with a small ‘Gotcha’, moving _up_ instead of down. He immediately wrapped his arms tightly around his saviors’ neck and was not planning to let go any time soon. _Thank God, thank God, thank God, thank God, thank God._ He was not falling to his death! But when they made a sudden sharp turn, his arms locked even tighter around his savior’s neck.

"James… can’t… breathe," Sam’s voice said, sounding like it was pinched shut and Bucky finally dared to open his eyes. He saw Sam’s face with the ridiculous goggles and loosened his arms up a bit. Sam took a grateful gulp of air. The throbbing in his wounded arm seemed to hurt a bit less. But after one look down at the ground, his arms were right back and Bucky had his eyes squeezed shut equally tight, burying his face in Sam’s shoulder. Nope, nope, nope, nope, he was _not_ doing this.

"Jesus Christ, Barnes! Are you trying to kill me?!" Sam asked.

"Just don- don’t…" Bucky trailed off after speaking with a shaking voice, his eyes still squeezed shut, "Don’t let go."

"Not planning to. Hey, what was chasing you? A squirrel?"

Sam laughed at his own joke. They were hovering in the air, Sam’s flight suit keeping them both up with ease. Bucky was pretty heavy, since he was a tall super soldier, but Sam had trained hard and his suit helped with the weight. Bucky mumbled something but Sam didn’t catch it because it was smothered into his shoulder.

"What?"

"Dragon."

Now it was Sam’s turn to be silent for a moment, a slight frown appearing between his brows. "Whispering Death?" he asked then.

Bucky shook his head. He just wanted to open his mouth to answer when a roar made them both tense up. _It_ was back.

Sam whirled around in the air to face what was coming at them. Bucky pried his eyes open, daring to throw a glance in the noise’s general direction, and yes, _it_ was back. Jumping out from the thicket Bucky had just fallen down from, the dragon came, roaring, and beating its wings down fast, moving like this little, nasty snake through the air.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" Sam called out.

The dragon dropped its jaw down far and shot its little dart-teeth at the two. Sam could spin around in the air just in time to use his wing as a shield. The darts ricocheted from the construction with sharp, little _ticks_. "What the hell are those?!"

"Teeth," Bucky answered.

That was Sam’s clue to get the hell out of there. He leaned forward a bit and they flew away, Bucky holding on this little bit tighter. Sam would have used his wings to fire his own miniature guided missiles, but his arms were filled with clingy super soldier so that wasn’t really working out.

"Bucky, can I just let go with _one_ hand so I can–"

"NO, DON’T DO THAT!"

This had to be like – the _most_ words Sam had ever heard Bucky say in a short amount of time. Sometimes being afraid made him close like a clam, but now apparently, he had become almost chatty.

"But–"

" _Please_ don’t." Bucky was trembling almost all over. _"_ _Please._ _"_

Ouch, that felt like an actual punch in the gut. Sam banked around a corner, feeling Bucky’s arms tighten again. God, he was really cutting of Sam’s air supply. Every time they banked or even made a simple turn Bucky was scared to death they’d fall. Huh, so he _really_ did not like flying. Sam had heard the story of the Night Fury from Clint, and later from Steve. Steve was more trustworthy to give the right information (sometimes the others would make up things that didn’t even happen), but Clint always gave more details.

Apparently, Bucky had been snatched up when he had pushed Clint aside, then taken into the air. Tony fired at them, the Night Fury fired back, and Bucky fell. Thor had flown into the air and taken Bucky safely down, but the super soldier had been unconscious, probably fainted. Later he woke up, looking like shit and telling them he didn’t like flying. And judging from Sam’s lack of oxygen Clint had spoken the truth.

But was he scared of flying, or of _heights_?

"Easy, James. I won’t drop you, promise. But if I can’t let go, then I’m gonna put you down, okay? I need both hands to shoot because –"

Bucky let go with one hand, head still buried in Sam’s shoulder, pulled a gun from Sam’s belt and fired at the dragon following them without even properly looking where it was. Sam guessed he was just listening to the sound of that dragon and aiming at that. If it worked, he was not complaining.

Just as Sam thought this improvised plan would fail, they heard an ear-piercing screech. Both men looked up in surprise, for a moment, Bucky forgot he actually hated heights. One of the dragon’s wings flapped around uselessly, the other was dropped down to its side. Bucky lowered the gun, and they saw the dragon falling down to the ground below. Sam and Bucky shared a look.

Even from up in the air, they heard the thud when the dragon hit the ground. Sam slowly lowered too, keeping much distance. When on the ground he put Bucky down, but not without laying a hand on his shoulder to keep him up; his legs seemed wobbly and Sam didn’t want to risk him collapsing.

The dragon was screeching and crying out. One wing flaring out and beating up and down, the other didn’t move a bit. Bucky must have hit it in the wing. The dragon’s claws sliced the air and it stood up, its pupils narrowed to slits and a loud growl coming from its throat. One of its wings flared out, the other did not work along. It took a threatening step closer. Bucky raised the gun a little, ready to take the shot. To shoot that nasty thing in the head. But Sam stopped him by laying a quick hand on the soldier’s, pressing down slightly.

For a moment, Bucky narrowed his eyes at him, then his look relaxed, and he lowered the gun to the ground. Though they fought from time to time, and made fun of one another, they still respected each other. Bucky respected Sam, trusted him, so he put his weapon down, waiting to see what Sam was going to do next.  

The Falcon grabbed his phone from his pocket and snapped a few pictures of the dragon that was slowly approaching, and filmed it as it hissed and spat, small claws flexing. As soon as he had put his phone away, Sam flared out his own wings, and let the engine of his flight suit zoom loudly. The giant wings and noise spooked the dragon, it backed down.

To make sure it was really leaving, Bucky fired a few rounds right before the dragon’s paws. That seemed to do it. The nasty creature turned around and ran away.

"Christ, what the hell was that?" Sam asked, blowing out his cheeks.

Bucky stared at the place the dragon had just stood barely a few seconds ago, the fingers of his metal hand flexing nervously. He rolled the shoulder of his metal arm, swallowing heavily, then he looked over at Sam. "Let’s ask Loki."

 

* * *

 

"Oh yes, that most definitely is a Grim Gnasher," Loki said, looking at Sam’s phone.

Sam and Bucky stood closely at his side, looking along at the pictures. Sam swiped to the right, showing another few pictures he had taken. Loki looked at them with interest, and his eyebrows raised when he saw the video Sam had made. The dragon snarled and growled at the camera, showing its teeth and flapping a wing. The god then nodded, confirming again that it was indeed, a Grim Gnasher they had stumbled upon.

"What kind of dragon is a… Grim Gnasher?" Sam asked, eyes shooting back and forth between the picture and the god.

"First of all, I believe that they are sharp class dragons," Loki explained, "They are hunters, and usually hunt in packs and prey on the sick dragons, because those are the easiest to get. They have the unique ability to blast razor-sharp darts made of their teeth, and like sharks, they possess the ability to regenerate row after row."

The god nodded a little, watching the video of the creature hissing and snarling. He was intrigued by the animal’s appearance, its head and the way the wings were connected to the body, its large claws, its many teeth. It was not a long video, and it did not show any details to how the two Avengers had escaped at all.

"How did you get away, if you do not mind me asking?"

Bucky and Sam shared a look. "Bucky shot its wing, then we scared it off and it ran away."

The god frowned slightly, but nodded again. "That was a smart tactic. One of the first things you are told in Dragon Training, is that you must go for the tails or wings. If it cannot fly, it cannot flee. Where did you find it?"

"In the forest out back, guess even picking blueberries ain’t safe anymore," Sam joke, crossing his arms before his chest, and nudging Bucky with his shoulder. Bucky slowly turned his head, giving Sam one of the nastiest looks he could, his mouth pressed to a thin line and eyebrows lowered. Loki chuckled slightly at the sight.

"What’s so funny?" Tony asked, walking up at them, eyes curious at the three.

"We got ourselves a new species of dragon," Loki answered, showing the mechanic the video, "Our soldiers took care of it."

Upon seeing the video, a small frown appeared on Tony’s face, and he seemed to be a tad conflicted. "You hurt it."

"Yes, we did," Sam said.

"Why?"

Bucky huffed a breath, arms crossing tightly before his chest, "Cuz we’d be dead if we didn’t."

"Can you send me those pics?" Tony asked, taking out his own phone. Sam nodded, taking his phone back from Loki and sending Tony the pictures and the video. The mechanic thanked them, and then walked off, saying something about going to Bruce’s lab. The other three stayed behind, and Loki told them a little more about the scavenger dragons.

Tony took quick steps as he made his way over to Bruce’s lab. He entered the code to the room, opening the door and making his way over to the tables filled with all types of equipment. The scientist was tapping away on some hologram screens and looking at a clipboard in his hands.

"Hey, Bruce, check it out." Tony held out his phone, showing Bruce the picture of the new dragon. Bruce pushed his glasses further up his nose.

"Ah, a new dragon. What kind?"

"I heard Loki call it a Grim Gnasher. It attacked Sam and Bucky, they’re fine, but they did wound the dragon. You think we should call Hiccup? Let her know there’s a wounded dragon out there?"

There was a short pause, and Bruce nodded. "I think it would be for the best."

They had all switched out numbers so they could easily contact each other if there was a dragon thing out there, but what do you know? Hiccup did not answer her phone. She had the most standard voice mail ever, and Tony cringed a bit at it, he would have to show her how to change that pretty soon. He left no message, Hiccup probably wouldn’t listen to it anyway.

He went to WhatsApp instead, simply sending her the photos and the video. Perhaps she could not write in English just yet, she could look at photos and know she would have to call Tony back real soon. He wondered where she was, after the whole ‘half of the Avengers team finds out’ thing, he expected her to stay close, be available.

She was out finding that Gronckle in the forest, Tony knew, because he had been the one to tell here there was a dragon out there, in the exact forest Steve was on his mission to, together with Thor and Clint. If Clint saw a dragon, he knew that he would have to lead Thor and Steve away, but what if Thor or Steve saw it first?

Hiccup said she was going to take care of it, but what if she had been discovered? What if Steve found her? What if Steve found Toothless? What if they attacked each other? There was so much that could go wrong, and Tony became restless because of it. He knew he should have faith in her and her dragon skills, she had been living with them since she was born, but still he could not keep himself from worrying.

There was a wild Gronckle on the loose, and now a wounded Grim Gnasher. More and more dragons started to show up lately, and it was undeniably getting out of hand. Who knew how many dragons were out there right now? And who knew what was going to happen to them if they didn’t get to them first.

"Relax, Tony, I’m sure Hiccup’s fine," Bruce spoke up, filling in some equations on the screen.

Tony mumbled something back in response, sighing deeply, "It’s not just her I’m worried about. If Steve sees a threat, he reacts to it. What if he stumbles into Toothless and they–"

"I’m sure they won’t. Hiccup won’t let Toothless kill anyone, and Steve isn’t one to just roll over and die."

No, of course Steve was not just going to do that, he was a soldier through and through, never one to back up from a fight without a damn good reason. But Tony dreaded a fight of any kind, what if Toothless attacked Steve, and so Steve attacked Toothless, and then Hiccup would come in between to protect her dragon, freaking Steve out and probably making him incredibly mad? Because Steve _would_ be mad when he found out. Whether Tony told him any time soon or he would find out himself eventually, Steve would be _pissed_. A furious soldier was yet another thing Tony dreaded. Why did things have to be so difficult? Why could this all not be easier?

With a deep sigh, Tony dragged himself away from Bruce’s lab, entirely unsure what the hell he had to do now. Steve, Clint and Thor were off for some mission, Natasha was back at the cottage, keeping an eye on Dawntwister and awaiting Hiccup’s return, Peter was at school, Bruce in his lab, and the others did not know the truth about dragons. What was he supposed to do?

He could go study the Whispering Death in the backyard, but what was the fun in that? He could go into the forest and find the Grim Gnasher, but he knew nothing about caring for wild dragons. Yeah, he had fed Dawntwister fish, rode on him, and cleaned his scales, but there was so damn more to the care of dragons. The way Hiccup treated them, the way she laid her hands on their hide, the careful look in her eyes and the absolute respect she held for the creatures… Tony did not think he would ever be able to do the same, not like her.

And so, he felt nothing for going after wild, wounded dragons he knew nothing about. It would simply be too dangerous. He needed another list, an ordering of his thoughts. There were dragons here now, which they needed to get back to their own planet, together with this awesome Viking girl that had come with them, the Infinity Stones had to be protected from some mad alien, and there was some alien race on Earth that tried to take things over.

One way or another, they would have to deal with that.

Tony mindlessly tapped away on a holographic screen. How exactly he had ended up in his own lab, he was not entirely sure. It had just happened, and he was fine with it. Whatever. He told FRIDAY to keep an eye out to anything suspicious. That was a wide range of search, but he was just trying something out. Perhaps they would find nothing, perhaps they would find a lot. Who was to say?

With a simple swipe, he discarded a failed Iron Man suit design. He had been working onto something new for a while, a design he had not once ever thought of before. It had to do with dragons; those giant creatures with their wings and tails and scales challenged his genius intellect, calling out to him to make something way more awesome than he had ever made before. He was thinking a whole new color scheme, different kinds of flaps, other materials, other weapons.

He was itching to get to work, but no matter what he tried it never was what he wanted it to be, he just could not come up with a right way to make it. He wanted something dragon-y, something with black and red, some gold as well, something inspired by a Night Fury and a Monstrous Nightmare, but it was not enough. He needed other ideas, other dragons whose autonomy he could study and perhaps copy.

"Boss?" FRIDAY spoke up.

Tony hummed something in response.

"You may want to see this."

FRIDAY pulled up a weather satellite, showing him the images. At first, Tony just raised an eyebrow, not getting where she was aiming at, then he sat up straight in his chair, eyes widening. He took a closer look at the screen, and drew in a sharp breath.

"FRIDAY? Call out an emergency meeting."

"Boss, many of the Avengers are occupied with their own–"

"Doesn’t matter, tell them this can’t wait."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this? I'm leaving you with an attacked and possibly hurt Steve in the forest, because I focused on the other characters instead? My bad, here, have a flower while you're waiting for the next chapter ✿⊂(◕ ω ◕✿)


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